The Knight Before
by Cliffhanger247
Summary: An AU where Kaneki is a natural half-ghoul that has moved to the 20th ward in order to escape the clan wars that are being waged in the 24th. But achieving peace for he & his (adopted) little sister is easier said than done. As every ghoul with a big name, peace doesn't come easy for Kaneki. Especially when the threat of three way war is looming over his head as old feuds flare up.
1. SS-Rated Kenshi

**Summary:** **An AU where Kaneki is a natural half-ghoul that has moved to the 20th ward in order to escape the clan wars that are being waged in the 24th. But achieving peace for he & his (adopted) little sister is easier said than done. As every ghoul with a big name, peace doesn't come easy for Kaneki. Especially when the threat of three way war is looming over his head as old feuds flare up.**

* * *

 **SS-Rated Kenshi**

Tokyo, the night was young and the sky was void of all light due to the brightly lit metropolis below. Even at this late hour, the city was abuzz with activity in the thirteenth ward. People were all about going about, minding their own business and not bothering to stop and gawk at the two men clad in white overcoats that walked with a great sense of purpose and urgency as they hurried down the side walk at a slightly quicker pace than those around them. A man was pushed roughly to the side by one of the men in white and he was about to give them a piece of his mind until he saw their attire. Instantly he knew that these men were no normal civilians, no, they were ghoul investigators.

Investigators are men and women dedicated to keeping the streets of Tokyo free from the terrifying, man-eating race known as ghouls, which plagued the not only the city or just the country but the entire world. It's said that ghouls are the descendants of dragons and were cast from the celestial world because they were an abomination in the eyes of their dragon god parents, though, theses are just believed to just be rumors and old folklore. The investigators serve the Commission of Counter Ghoul (CCG) and they are tasked with all crimes involving or believed to involve ghouls.

These two men, hurrying along the streets in a certain direction, were members of the CCG. Both were First Class Investigators and had dealt with ghouls before, they knew how dangerous their superhuman enemies were and they were willing to weigh the risk if it meant to rid the world of ghouls. And tonight was nothing different, these men had received a call from a panicked comrade until the call was dropped but not before a terror filled scream had rung out. They knew their colleges were most likely dead or dying but the least they could do is avenge them.

Their running was interrupted by one of their work phones ringing, the man in the front slowed to a stop and pulled his phone out, reading the called ID aloud. "It's the Ward Office," he informed his partner.

 **"Thirteenth Ward Office to First Class Investigators Hirokazu and Kaori. A ghoul has ambushed Bussho's squad while on patrol. They request immediate assistance!"** commanded a voice from the other end of the phone.

The investigator, revealed as Hirokazu replied, "Investigator Hirokazu to Thirteenth Ward Office, requesting the identity of the target, over."

 **"We're not sure but Bussho thinks it's Kenshi (Swordsman)."** at those words, the Hirokazu dropped his phone, his face blanching with fear. His partner, Investigator Kaori looked at his partner with a concerned look.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked with a great amount of worry in his voice. Hirokazu turned to look at the other man with fear in his eyes replying in a voice barely louder than a whisper, "It's Kenshi."

* * *

Meanwhile in the twentieth ward, at a large, rather grandeur looking coffee shop by the name of Anteiku, run by an ever kind elderly man who served all those who came in for a warm cup of coffee. The shop was almost completely empty and void of customers due to the late hours, in fact, most of the employees were closing up shop and preparing to head home when their manager came down from the second floor with a rather grim expression on his face at the news he had just received. The workers were soon alerted to the man's presence and ceased what they were doing in favor of listening to what the old man had to say.

"What is it, manager?" Asked a younger employee, she had unmistakable blue hair with bangs that were trimmed to cover her right eye. Her eyes were vivid indigo eyes which were now trained on her boss and employer. She wore the traditional uniform of Anteiku's employees as did everyone around her. From what she had learned about her manager, when he had that look on his face, either something bad happened or what he was about to say was _very_ important.

"We'll be taking in a few new faces here at Anteiku," his words made every employee in the shop tilt their heads in confusion "I just received a call from Yomo. As it turns out Kaneki Ken and his sister will be coming here from the twenty-fourth ward."

All the workers of Anteiku stared at their boss with wide eyes. None of them had truly met Kaneki before but they had heard stories of the well-known ghoul from customers. They say that he was a part of the gang wars that were constantly being waged in the twenty-fourth ward and that Kaneki was a major player in the wars. The only person that had met Kaneki was Yomo, Anteiku's behind the scenes worker that dealt the ghoul side of Anteiku, and he didn't seem to be very open about the subject of Kaneki. Usually saying something along the lines of "It's not my place to tell." or something along those lines.

"Manager," another employee, Enji Koma started. "Are you saying that he's-" He was cut off as well as whatever show was playing on the television with breaking news.

" **Citywide ghoul advisory! A ghoul has killed two investigators in the thirteenth ward and is currently on the run. The suspect is speculated to be SS-rated Kenshi,"** A blurry image of the ghoul was shown on the screen. " **If seen please contact the CCG immediately and at no means confront."** Everyone in the large coffee shop stared at the television screen with blank faces. They were used to getting warnings of ghouls because, as ghouls, they liked to stay in the loop with their kind. But this Kenshi ghoul was becoming a recurring troublemaker in various other wards.

The manager's voice pulled everyone's attention from the television and back to him, "Kaneki and his sister will arrive in the morning tomorrow when they do send them up to me." The old man then walked back upstairs, leaving his employees to ponder on the things he had said and what the recent news had just announced.

"I hope that Kenshi guy doesn't come here," Enji stated, he then changed the subject. "I wonder what Kaneki will be like, from the way people talk about him he seems like a really dangerous guy. Not sure why Old Man Yoshimura would let him join Anteiku."

He and another waitress began to talk more about Kaneki while the young, pretty waitress with the blue hair turned her attention back to the television screen. It was still flashing the warning about the ghoul Kenshi. She raised her eyebrow at the name, why would the 'doves' give a ghoul a name like that? So many questions were filling her brain but instead of voicing them she merely stayed silent and finished wiping down the tables, she knew that there was school tomorrow and she'd need a good night's sleep if she wasn't going to be totally miserable all day long.

"Hey Touka," called one of her fellow co-workers as she was about to head upstairs to her room. She turned around on the bottom step and looked the Enji, replying with a hum. "Good luck on your first day of the semester." He smiled at her encouragingly. The pretty, blue haired waitress, Touka simply nodded back to him and headed to her bedroom upstairs.

* * *

Back in the thirteenth ward the ghoul known as Kenshi has trapped on the edge of a rooftop, below were several 'doves' waiting for him if he decided to jump down but behind him were two associate special class investigators with their quinques primed and ready for action. Kenshi turned to face the two investigators then up at the helicopter that was hovering above, the noise from the helicopter was stinging his sensitive ghoul ears. He smirked at the arial craft, they must consider him a threat if they needed more than two squads of 'doves'.

"You've got nowhere to run," a 'dove' shouted at him. "Surrender and we won't kill you!" those words almost make Kenshi laugh, almost. He smirks behind his mask and tensed the muscles in his legs.

He chooses the _very_ cliche words, "Go to hell!" As his response before charging the two men. The first 'dove' swung his sword like quinque at Kenshi, only to have the ghoul hop over the swing and kick the man in the side of his head. The man was sent to the side as Kenshi landed, sweeping his leg low at the other 'dove' but this man reacted faster than his partner and was able to step back, avoiding the tripping tactic. Caught off guard by the man's quick reaction Kenshi wasn't ready the man's counter and he paid for it with the spear like quinque embedding into his chest. Coughing up blood into his helmet and then grimacing at the excruciating pain, Kenshi thought on his feet and grabbed the handle of the quinque just below the blade stuck in his chest. Cocking his arm back, he put all his strength as he sent his fist down at the quinque sticking out of his torso. The weapon shattered under the power of his punch, sending shards of quinque steel in various directions. The investigator's eyes widened in shock at Kenshi's raw power, that shocked face was the last expression the man ever made before Kenshi ripped the spear head out of his chest and thrust it violently into the 'dove' right below the collarbone. The ghoul grabbed the remaining shaft of quinque steel of the spear from the dead man's hand and spun around in enough time to block an overhead swing from the other investigator.

"Your partner was more skilled than you," taunted Kenshi. "Your death will be easy." those words ignited a rage in the 'dove' and he began to attack with ferocity. His quinque whipping through the air in wild slashes and attacks, all at high speed. Kenshi easily dodged each attack with simple movements and turns of his body, the quinque sped past him harmlessly. The ghoul knew he couldn't keep this up, though, the wound in his chest was much worse than he thought and hadn't fully healed yet. Taking a chance Kenshi twisted his body to the right, dodging a wild swing from the investigator and thrust his arm forward with the broken quinque spear still in hand, the metal shaft sunk into the man's side, smashing past his ribs and puncturing his heart. Kenshi took a step back as the 'dove' gasped one final breath before falling face first to the rooftop with a resounding _**thud**_.

The ghoul flipped the latches on his helmet and his helmet opened slightly with a hiss, Kenshi then lifted the thing above his face and fell upon the dead body and ripped chunks off violently, to regain his strength and fully heal his wounds. Once he was sure that his large chest cavity was filled and most of the bones were in the proper place, Kenshi pulled his helmet back down over his face and flicked the latches closed, then grabbed the dead investigator's quinque, which was a bastard sword, and hefted it with easily one hand while looking up at the CCG helicopter which was still hovering several feet above the building he was on top of. And once again smirked and pulled the sword over his head, his arm suddenly snapped forward and he released the sword into the air. He then surged forward, towards the levitating craft, he tensed the muscles in his legs and in a single bound, launched himself through the air at the helicopter. As he soared through the air the sword crashed through the glass of the helicopter and decapitated one of the pilots, Kenshi crossed his arms over his body and followed the sword through the glass. He barrelled through the helicopter and crashed through the glass and whipped his arms around him with splayed hands in an 'X' formation, slicing the throat of the other pilot he then crashed into the back of the vehicle. Groaning at the force of impact, Kenshi couldn't stand as the helicopter was spiraling out of control, he was forced to the ceiling of the cabin when it crashed into the roof of the building it was just above then he slammed back to the floor of the cabin after a few seconds of being suspended in the air. Cursing himself for forgetting the helicopter would crash, Kenshi wobbly rose to his feet once again, the smell of smoke hit him like a truck, he looked to the front of the helicopter and saw fire inside the cockpit! Instead of trying to just open the door, he kicked the door off with a great amount of strength which sent it flying through the air and off the edge of the building Kenshi didn't care, he climbed out of the helicopter to meet a group of 'doves' pouring out of the staircase and onto the roof. Kenshi smirked behind his visor and said, "The more the merrier!"

* * *

While all this was happening another ghoul was wandering his way through the streets of another ward with a younger girl at his side, intent on making their way to their new home, the dark tunnels of the twenty-fourth was never a safe place and was growing more and more violent every day, they needed out so his sister could go to school. So he called up his old friend Yomo and asked if he could come join Anteiku to stay for awhile, of course, his friend agreed that it was alright and so here they were, on the streets of the twentieth ward. It was odd for them, everything seemed so peaceful but both could smell the ghouls around, the ghouls were extremely cautious of their surroundings, that much was obvious. Whether it was the wrath of the CCG they were afraid of or that of Anteiku, the young man didn't know, while the ever younger girl was not concerned. He slung one of his two duffel bags over his shoulder and continued his trek through the winding streets of the ward, not exactly sure where they were going. He knew the building was big but that wasn't entirely helpful as there were several large building around but none of them seemed to be the right place.

The sound of a car slowing down near them, made the ghoul put his guard up but he relaxed when he was met with a familiar voice. "Kaneki," Yomo called to him from the car and Kaneki turned to face his friend with a smile. "Get in, you and Hinami can stay at my place and I'll take you to Anteiku tomorrow, everyone's already closed up and gone home."

Kaneki walked up to the car and opened the side door, "Thanks, Yomo." he said before opening the door for his sister. Kaneki threw his bags in the back and then climbed into the passenger seat. The three stayed silent most of the ride as Kaneki and Yomo had already discussed why the siblings were forced to leave the twenty-fourth ward and seek refuge within Anteiku, they all knew things wouldn't bode well if things began to get out of hand and the disputes between clans broke out into a full-fledged war. When they arrived at the shipping container in which Yomo live both men got out of the vehicle and entered the container, Kaneki let Hinami take the couch and Yomo went to bed. Kaneki laid on the floor, staring up at the ceiling wondering how things would be at Anteiku. Would they accept someone like him or would they think of him as a freak of nature and cast him out? His thoughts also traveled to the state of the twenty-fourth ward, something was brewing down there and with him now gone even more blood was likely to be shed.

Kaneki sighed and closed his eyes, he was determined to get at least some sleep before his first day at Anteiku tomorrow.

* * *

Kenshi wasn't concerned with the number of investigators around him, in fact, he smirked at their number behind his helmet's visor and spun the bastard sword quinque around with blinding speed and amazing swordsmanship before flicking his wrist and extending his arm to have the sword out to his side. His smirk never faded as he awaited the first fool who wanted to meet their death to charge him, which he didn't have to wait long for as a 'dove' bolted towards him with an odd quinque in each hand, both styled like a weapon from South Asia called a katar. Kenshi didn't care what weapon the 'dove' had, he simply sidestepped the man's attack and swung the sword in an upward arc, and sliced through the human's neck, another 'dove' raced forward, hoping to catch Kenshi off guard but the ghoul didn't stop his blade's swing and was able to block the investigator's overhead swing.

"You must all be first class or junior investigators," Kenshi pushed the 'dove' away from him with his superior ghoul strength. "It's no fun if I don't have anyone strong enough to actually fight with me." The investigator grits his teeth and swings his katana styled quinque at the ghoul again. Kenshi easily deflected the blade and countered with a fast slash across the man's leg. "I'm just gonna have to slaughter all of you!" his raised voice startled all the 'doves' and the one he was currently fighting fell back as he tried to take a step with his injured leg. Kenshi took his chance, thrusting the bastard sword in the man's arm, who let out a scream of pain, he dug his foot from under the katana styled quinque and kicked up. The ghoul skillfully caught the weapon out of the air, pulling the other quinque from the investigator's arm, he swung the tip of the large blade over his throat, killing the 'dove'. Looking back at the other investigators, Kenshi taunted them, "Who's next?"

"Step back," a deep voice called out to the rest of the 'doves', said voice belonged to a tall, muscular man, his skin was very pale and his that were almost completely void of color with a pale pink were behind simple framed glasses and his hair was whiter than snow. "You all evacuate the area and return the Ward Office, I will return within the hour." the other investigators' eyes grew wide with shock at the man's appearance while Kenshi simply scoffed. How could this man defeat him? He had already killed six investigators, two of which were associate special class! Kenshi looked that at the man and noticed that his briefcase was different than the others, his was black with reddish-orange vein-like cracks covering it, the sight of this special investigator's weapon made Kenshi smirk under his helmet again, he knew that this was about to get interesting.

"Yeah! Run along small fries," sneered Kenshi. "Let's do this." he held the two stolen quinque outstretched on either side of him while 'dove' simply pressed the button on his briefcase and it burst open to form an odd lance attached to a basket hilt, with a handle hidden inside the basket hilt. The 'dove' stood motionless, waiting for Kenshi to make a move, obviously, he was used to his opponents making the first move but Kenshi wasn't falling for it, he could tell that this 'dove' was a cut above the rest and could no doubt kill him with ease. Was Kenshi willing to risk it?

Before the ghoul could even answer his own question he darted forward, apparently he was willing to risk it, and he swung the bastard sword at the pale man. The 'dove' easily deflected the attack and with the flick of his wrist sent his quinque at Kenshi's face which would have been a killing blow if the ghoul hadn't turned his head in a spur of desperation for survival but the very tip of the quinque slashed across Kenshi's cheek, leaving the tiniest of cuts under his right eye.

The 'dove' sighed, seemingly in exasperation, "It seems I was going too easy on you, none of your race has ever been able to avoid my first strike." his words made Kenshi's eyes grow wide with surprise. Just who was this guy that he could kill ghouls in one move?! "I guess I'm going to have actually try tonight." Before Kenshi could react the man vanished before his eyes with inhuman speed but the ghoul knew what the 'dove' was trying and spun around, crossing the flat of each quinque blade in an 'X' over her chest. Good thing too, as the pale man seemed to appear out of thin air and thrust his quinque forward and the tip of the blade pierced through the blade of both quinque and continued into his chest but only sinking in a few centimeters or so. Kenshi put all his power into pushing the man away, using the handles of the two quinque as leverage but, much to the ghoul's surprise, the 'dove' only went back a few meters.

"Interesting," the 'dove' muttered. "You're surprisingly skilled compared to others of your kind," Kenshi didn't pay any heed to the man's words, in favor for snatching a quinque case that had fallen out of the helicopter when it crashed. "But why do you not use your kagune?" ignoring the man's words Kenshi activated the quinque which formed a kanabō and pointed it at the investigator. "Very well…" the 'dove' replied and the two charged each other.


	2. The Renowned Mukade

**Disclaimer: Not exactly sure why I need to write this, I think it's obvious that I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

 **Alright, first off I'd like to thank y'all the positive reception the first chapter received, to tell y'all the truth I didn't really like it all too much until my my fanfic friend (FFF), hoobab gave it a quick read through and told me it was good, so I published it. Secondly Kaneki is a born hybrid born into the Sasaki Clan and the ghoul Kenshi, his name isn't actually Kenshi, that's just what the CCG has dubbed him it means Swordsman. The third thing y'all need to know is that this story will have many OCs in it because of lore that I've come up with. Said lore can be found in my forum, OC Asylum. Final thing y'all need to know is that ToukaXKaneki (TouKen) will be slowly developed over time.**

* * *

 **The Renowned Mukade**

Walking to Anteiku was not what Kaneki had planned for today. He thought Yomo was going to drop Hinami and himself off at the coffee shop, but when he had awoken in the morning his friend Yomo was gone, leaving a note stating, " _Got to run some errands. I'll meet you at Anteiku at noon."_ Kaneki sighed to himself and kept walking with his younger sister ahead of him skipping down the sidewalk. At the sight of her, Kaneki's spirits were lifted and he smiled at the younger ghoul.

Looking back and seeing her smiling brother Hinami called out to him, "Hey Onii-chan!" Kaneki hummed a response. "Hurry up or we're gonna be late!" her words made Kaneki increase the speed of his steps. He didn't really know how the ghouls of Anteiku would respond to him being late and decided it was better to not find out on the first day.

Upon arriving at Anteiku, Kaneki was taken back by its size. Even though he knew the building was large, he didn't expect a coffee shop to be so grand. But once he entered it was like he had stepped into a whole new world. The smell of coffee washed over him, filling him with a sense of warmth and comfort, two things the young man was not very familiar with growing up in the twenty-fourth ward. He found himself gazing all about him, trying to see just how to elaborate the decor was. He was impressed to see how much craftsmanship was put into just about every inch of the shop.

"Kaneki Ken?" The sound of his name being called by an unfamiliar voice made the ghoul spin around, ready for a fight, but was instead greeted by a rather pretty waitress around his age. She had dark blue hair that shielded the right of her deep violet eyes from view, but her left eye gazed into Kaneki's. He blinked a few times before he realized that she was the one who had called his name.

"Oh, yeah right. Sorry…" He trailed off for a moment to compose himself. "Yes, I'm Kaneki. And you are?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"You look nothing like rumors say you do," her words made Kaneki raise and eyebrow. "Sorry, I'm Touka. I work here. You and your sister can go speak with the manager now. He's going to be up the stairs, first door on the left." Kaneki nodded his thanks and then shepherded Hinami up the stairs to meet with the famed Yoshimura.

Kaneki could hear the voices of two men discussing something in the room up the stairs with his superior hearing, so when he and his sister reached the door he knocked out of politeness. There was a pause in the conversation and the sound of footsteps could be heard coming closer. The door swung open and Kaneki and Hinami were met with the face of an older, tan-skinned man with brown hair that reached down his neck. His eyes were a crystal blue and he was dressed in a light gray button-up shirt with a dark gray formal button vest and black khakis to hide his obvious muscular build. To Kaneki the man had the body of an Olympic runner, while Hinami simply smiled up at the tall man. He flashed a kind smile back at her before greeting them.

"You must be Kaneki and Hinami," he began, gesturing for them to enter. "My name is Albert Blumstein, but you can just call me Albert." Kaneki stared at the man with interest. He had never met a foreign ghoul before. Hinami was just shocked by the man's name.

"You're not Japanese?!" she gawked at the man who simply smiled and shook his head. A voice from the other side of the room called out, catching their attention. "Hello, you two," it belonged to the famed Yoshimura that almost every ghoul knew. He was legendary for his community service to their kind and just about every peaceful ghoul who lived above ground looked up to the man for not just his kind nature, but also his unparalleled power. He had a warm, welcoming smile on his face, even though it was obviously forced. Kaneki could tell these two men were being very cautious with him. "Welcome to Anteiku." It made sense to the young man. He understood why they would be wary of him as he was a renowned member of the Sasaki Clan.

Deciding it would be best to properly introduce himself, Kaneki nodded his thanks to the man. "I'm 'Kaneki Ken' of the Sasaki Clan, and this is Hinami," Kaneki wrapped his arm around the younger girl's shoulders and held her reassuringly. "She has been left under my protection and will be treated as my younger sister." Yoshimura raised an eyebrow with a speculating look on his face while Albert also looked puzzled. Was Hinami not Kaneki's sister and a member of the Sasaki Clan?

Yoshimura simply nodded, deciding not to speak further on the matter of the relation between Kaneki and Hinami to each other. "Since you have chosen to seek refuge in Anteiku you will be living in one of our apartments on this floor," spoke the elderly ghoul. "Of course, you will have to work here at Anteiku as well." Kaneki nodded, knowing the old ghoul meant just him as Hinami was only thirteen and not able to work yet. "Though your hair might scare some of the human customers, most ghouls that come here will know who you are."

Kaneki nodded again, "I understand, but I'd like to keep my hair this way if that's alright." he ran a hand through his monochromatic locks, slightly ruffling his shaggy hair. Yoshimura cast a quick glance to Albert who simply nodded in response.

"That will be perfectly fine with us, Kaneki." Yoshimura smiled at the much younger ghoul, "I will also request your assistance with acquiring food for our ghoul customers, as well as one of our territory distributors, and deal with troublemakers." that got a slight chuckle out of not only Kaneki but Hinami as well.

"What's so funny?" asked Albert from their right. Hinami spoke up for the first time in the conversation, "Onii-chan can definitely do that!" more giggles escaped her and she covered her mouth with her hand in order to stifle her fit of laughter. An amused smile spread over Yoshimura's face at the young girl's form shaking with laughter.

"Of course," the old ghoul began. "I would expect nothing less from the renowned Mukade."

* * *

"Fuckin' ay!" cursed the ghoul Kenshi as he held his blood-soaked side, lightly slamming his head against the wall of the dark tunnel. He could barely move and his wounds were not healing either. Whatever kind of quinque that investigator was using had messed with his regeneration and almost all the wounds he was dealt hadn't even begun to heal. He had a giant hole pierced through his left forearm, a large gaping hole in his right side, and several other slashes and stabs covering his whole body. "I can't fuckin' believe this shit!" the ghoul cursed under his breath.

A voice from down the long passageway echoed throughout the tunnel and reached Kenshi's ears. "Did ya hear that? Someone's down here." another voice replied, arguing with the first voice. "Oh yeah? Who the hell would be down 'ere? What'd ya 'ear anyways?"

"I heard somethin' that sounded like 'Fuckin' ay!'." the first voice mimicked Kenshi's words and Kenshi growled under his breath, letting out a huff of anger and exasperation. "Ya heard that growl?!" The first voice shouted and Kenshi could hear heavier footsteps approaching him at a faster pace. He scoffed at how loud this person was under his breath and leaned his head back, waiting for whoever it was with a smirk behind his helmet. The footsteps stopped right in front of Kenshi, "See! I told ya there was someone here!"

"Yeah, so what? 'E looks dead." replied the other voice. Kenshi didn't move, enticing the two get closer to him because he seemed harmless. "You're crazy Hito, there no way this guy was cursin' 'e's dead!" The second voice belittled his companion that had been identified as Hito.

Hito who had no noticeable features to him except for the large wart on his nose frowned at the motionless form of Kenshi. Hito also had a long, scraggly beard that was due for a much-needed trim and an unlit cigarette clenched in between his crooked, yellow teeth. "Coulda swore he was just cursin'." he then pulled out a lighter and lit his cigarette but before Hito could take a draw from the thing it was sliced in half, the lit end falling to the floor of the dimly lit tunnel. "What the hell…?"

"What 'appened?" asked Hito's companion.

"I dunno. My cigarette…" Hito went to show his friend his clipped cigarette but his hand was severed from the rest of his arm and a pain filled scream ripped from Hito's throat. Blood sprayed from the stump and the man collapsed to his knees, holding his arm as blood gushed violently from the wound. His friend looked utterly shocked by these events and his head whipped over to look at the body of Kenshi that they believed to be dead, standing hunched over and gazing at him. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the glowing red lights that formed the helmet's eyes. Said helmet looked almost exactly like one of a certain villain's helmet from a video game about a bat-themed superhero. Blood caked the helmet-clad ghoul's body from all his wounds and held firmly in his right hand was what appeared to be a broken quinque of a ghoul investigator.

"Who… who are ya?" stuttered the ghoul. His friend, Hito, had stopped screaming and rose to his feet with his hand reattached. Hito's kagune burst from his shoulders, an ukaku kagune which looked like black pigeon wings. The kagune were small and uneven. "It don't matter, let's kill this bastard, Kyoji!" Hito shouted and charged Kenshi. His ukaku wings seemed to flicker like they didn't want to stay in use as he raced towards the blood-soaked Kenshi.

"You're rather slow for an ukaku." croaked Kenshi as he weakly dodged Hito's attack. The missed attack made his wings retract and flicker away for a moment before they erupted from his shoulders again. He attacked Kenshi again, who was surprisingly still limber and agile enough to avoid the slow ukaku, despite his wounds, twisted his battered body at an odd angle and swung the sharp edge of the quinque fragment at Hito. The jagged edge of the weapon sliced through Hito's stomach and a bloody mess of digested human meat spilled out of the deep gash. A howl of intense pain escaped his throat, but was silenced by Kenshi as he flipped around the weapon so it was held in a reverse grip and he jammed the quinque fragment into the back of Hito's neck, effectively killing him.

He ripped the weapon from the ghoul's body violently, slinging blood through the air. "Now to answer your question," the ghoul, referred to by Hito as Kyoji stared with wide eyes filled with terror at the sight of his friend being killed so easily, "my name is Takehiko but you might know me by another name…" Kenshi, whose real name was Takehiko Fudo, twirled the quinque around his hand for a few seconds as he slowly stalked closer to Kyoji, who was frozen in fear. They were so close now and Takehiko's helmet-clad head was right next to Kyoji's ear. "Kenshi," that whispered word made Kyoji's eyes widen in even more fear. He gasped as the broken quinque was thrust into his ribcage, puncturing his lung.

"You… you're that mercenary the… the one tha... that works fff… for the Jo… Josuke Cla… Clan…" Takehiko simply nodded to Kyoji's words as he slipped away, his life fading. Takehiko yanked the quinque shard from the dead ghoul's chest, flinging it from him and down the long tunnel in one swift motion. He then reached up to his helmet and removed it from his head to reveal matted black hair that wasn't bery long and stunning golden eyes. His face was recently shaven and had five o'clock shadow along his sharp jawline leading up to his ears which had 00g sized gauges punched through them. He lowered his thin lips to Kyoji's body and opened his mouth to reveal a set of pearly white teeth which he sunk into the dead ghoul.

After chewing the coarse meat for a few minutes, Takehiko swallowed with an audible gulp. "Ugh! This shit is disgusting!" he wiped the back of his hand across his lips to clean the foul tasting blood, then looked down at himself. His wounds healed quickly, not even leaving scars. Huffing, Takehiko stood, sliding his helmet back over his head. " _God, why the fuck do all ghouls but that bastard taste like shit?"_ he asked himself as he left the two dead bodies there and walked down the dimly lit passageway.

* * *

Kaneki's first day of training was rather eventful with his trainer, Touka. The pretty, blue haired girl had one hell of a temper and would scorn or ridicule him every time he did something wrong. By the end of the day, Kaneki was praying for closing hours and was thankful when the final customer left. He began to mop the hardwood floors and chuckled silently to himself. How was it that the great Mukade, vanguard of the Sasaki Clan, ended up being bossed around by a feisty blue haired waitress all day and mopping floors of a café? He shook his head as he silently laughed to himself, about to continue his task when the voice of the girl who had been ordering him around all day pulled him from his thoughts. "What's so funny?" he looked up at her, confused by her snappy attitude.

"Oh, nothing really," Kaneki admitted. "Simply found today amusing is all." she cocked an eyebrow at his response, more confused than before she asked. "Hey Touka," he started, she responded with a hum as she went about cleaning glass. "You go to school, right?"

"Well yeah, why?" Kaneki nodded at Touka's response and didn't speak for several moments before he stopped mopping the floor and looked up at her again. "What's it like?" his question caught Touka off guard and she wasn't sure how to respond, she just simply blinked at him. She shook her head to gather her wits and stuttered slightly with her answer, "Well… uhmm. It's… it's actually pretty great! Though classical literature is a pain in the ass." he nodded at her answer and continued mopping the floor, not responding.

Wanting to know why he randomly brought up the situation, she asked, "Why? Did you never go to school?" after she asked the question, Touka mentally facepalmed herself. Of course he didn't! Kaneki grew up in the twenty-fourth ward and knew nothing but violence and bloodshed. She could practically smell the blood on him like it was soaked into his skin as a permanent cologne, but there was something else mixed in with it. Something sweet and alluring to him, a sweet aroma of sorts, like no other ghoul Touka had ever met.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Kaneki's voice, "Not really, I was taught by my mother, but…" he trailed off, leaving Touka desperate to learn more, "She's dead now." Kaneki said nothing for the rest of the night as he finished mopping the floor. Touka was going to ask him more, but he just looked at the floor as he mopped over it, his eyes were filled with so many emotions, but to Touka they looked so broken. She could practically feel his mind racing through memories he'd rather forget.

Kaneki went upstairs and locked himself in his room for the night, and Touka knew she fucked up. She went upstairs herself, heading to her own room. Her hand gripped the doorknob, but before she opened the door she cast a glance at Kaneki's locked bedroom and sighed. " _I guess the renowned Mukade has a more complicated past than I thought,"_ she muttered to herself before entering her own room.


	3. Anteiku Family

**Disclaimer: Not exactly sure why I need to write this, I think it's obvious that I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

* * *

 **Anteiku Family**

It was a beautiful day outside, clear blue skies with a slight breeze. Today was certainly a perfect day in Tokyo and customers were coming into Anteiku like ants to a picnic. There seemed to be no end to those who came into the coffee shop, be it ghouls or humans the staff of Anteiku served them with a smile. Kaneki, however, was upstairs with Yoshimura and Albert, speaking about certain… other matters.

"Kaneki," began Yoshimura. "I'd like to know exactly what is brewing in the twenty-fourth ward." his words caught Kaneki off guard. And the young man wasn't sure how to respond at first.

"Umm… why would you want to know that?" the monochromatic haired ghoul asked Yoshimura

Albert cut in with a gruff response, "We like to know as much about the happenings of our race as possible. That's why we keep the news on in the shop." Kaneki nodded to Albert's words and collected his wits to answer Yoshimura's question.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the ceiling, thinking or trying to remember. "Umm well, the Josuke are starting to trespass into Sasaki protected territory, trying to claim Tsumemasa feeding grounds. Because the Josuke are trying to take their land the Tsumemasa Clan finally aligned themselves with the Sasaki and that made the Josuke think we're gathering allies for another Clan War." Kaneki paused let what he said sink in. Once Yoshimura nodded, he continued. "That's all I can really tell you, the Oshitsu Clan is having a conflict inside of itself but since their territory is useless anyway no one pays them any attention. That's all I really know. There's been more and more fights and scuffles between the Josuke and Sasaki hunting parties lately so a Clan War is imminent."

Kaneki's words made both Yoshimura and Albert, who was to the right, frown. Both ghouls obviously knew what a Clan War could mean for the ghoul population, the CCG would most definitely be attracted to the conflict, bringing 'doves' into even the peaceful twentieth ward. Yoshimura nodded, "I understand when conflict breaks out will you and Hinami return to the Sasaki Clan?"

"No," Kaneki's definite answer shocked the two elder ghouls. "Hinami needs to stay away from the twenty-fourth ward at all costs. A young girl like her should not be involved in such things. As for me, I'm a member of the Sasaki Clan vanguard, I will return to serve my clan."

"You may go back to work now. Thank you for the information, Kaneki." Kaneki got up and left with Yoshimura's permission. The old manager turned to face his friend, Albert after Kaneki had left. "What do you think, Albert?"

The foreign man didn't turn to face Yoshimura for a moment while he gathered his thoughts. He then turned to face his friend. "I believe we should try to keep our 'family' away from the fight. Young ones like them don't need to be dragged into a Clan War." Yoshimura hummed in agreement while slightly nodding once more, he then voiced another question. "And what about Kaneki?" the foreign ghoul turned away and looked at the ground without answering for a few minutes. He finally spoke up, still staring at the floor. "He seems to be a nice young man, he hasn't broken any of our rules yet and is very civil with both our employees and customers. Though Touka did say he shut himself down last night shortly after he brought up his mother."

"That's to be expected, if what I've heard about what happened to his mother are true then it's understandable."

* * *

Touka was in the middle of taking a customer's order when Kaneki came downstairs and began to work behind the counter with Koma, fixing up the orders that Touka jotted down. She frowned when she saw him, there was so much she didn't know about the newest employee at Anteiku and she really wanted to find out. Perhaps she could ask Hinami about him, Albert had offered to take the younger girl and herself out shopping today. Touka, of course, agreed right away, she loved spending time with Albert, the man was like an uncle to her but Hinami was skeptical about it. The young girl agreed once Kaneki encouraged her to go, which made Touka even more curious about Kaneki. She wanted to know more about him and what his life was like but she didn't want to get close to him, knowing he might leave and head back to the twenty-fourth ward.

"Excuse me miss," a customer's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she instantly apologized for her momentary lapse of concentration then took their order. She returned to the employee's side of the large counter and began to whip up the order, putting her all into every bit of the coffee she was preparing. Touka took pride in her latte art and just about everything she did here at Anteiku, it made her forget about how stressful school was already, only on the second day. She'd be lying if she said he hated it, though, Touka actually really enjoyed school and human life. God, she wished she was human sometimes. But that was just wishful thinking and she knew it was impossible.

She finished the two lattes and returned to the couple, delivering them their orders. They thanked her and she smiled sweetly at the couple and went back to work, receiving orders and making coffee. It was slightly awkward between her and Kaneki but luckily Koma kept the mood up with playful banter.

"Kaneki," Touka began, honestly hoping he didn't hear her. He replied with a hum, not looking up from what he was doing. "So you said it was okay if Albert and I took Hinami out with us when we go shopping, right?" even to herself, her voice sounded far away. She hated it. So she cleared her throat and asked again, "Albert and I are taking Hinami out with us today, cool?" there, that sounded much more confident.

Kaneki hummed his response, finally finishing his order. He left to deliver it to the customer and then swiftly returned. Touka watched him walk and noticed how graceful yet poised he was, like a predator. Maybe a large cat like a jaguar or panther perhaps? Touka found herself staring at him and when his eyes met hers she quickly looked back to the coffee she was preparing.

"Yes, that's fine." Touka nodded to Kaneki's words, honestly surprised to hear him speak again. "She loves to read so I'd recommend a bookstore and perhaps get her some new clothes, all the outfits she currently has have smell of the twenty-fourth ward." he didn't seem to have an order he was working on so he leaned his back against the countertop and looked at the wall and all the different glasses and mugs that hung there. "It'd be better if a young girl like her not be associated with that shit hole." that got a snicker out of Touka. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I just didn't picture you as a cursing man." he raised his eyebrow at her in confusion. "Forget it. So books and clothes huh?" Touka finished the coffee she was working on, "Anything else?" she left Kaneki to think as she gave the customer their coffee. When she returned Kaneki appeared to be thinking. He shook his head in despair.

"Sorry, I don't really know her very well." now _that_ was not something Touka was expecting. Weren't they brother and sister? What kind of brother didn't know his sister very well? Well, besides Touka's own shitty brother that is. "But I'm sure she'll let you know if she needs anything else."

"Excuse me." a meek voice squeaked as the door of the hallway that led to one of the storage rooms opened slowly. Rushing out of the doorway was a woman who Touka was sometimes jealous of because of her beautiful facial features combined with her long white hair and very noticeable clear, round blue-gray eyes. Though this woman was white as snow, Touka still found her to be very attractive. As did every male customer who came in. She rushed to the bottom of the stairs and hurried up them, panic plastered on her face.

"Who was that?" asked Kaneki.

Touka felt a pang of jealousy in her chest but didn't know why. "Why? Do you think she's hot too?" she snapped at Kaneki, who was confused by the sudden hostility. After a moment he came to a realization and began to chuckle a bit, shaking his head.

"No, Touka. I was just wondering if she was one of our coworkers. I didn't see her yesterday and it's almost the end of the day." Touka let out a sigh of… relief? Why was she feeling relieved? " _Whatever."_ she thought. "Yeah, she works her. Her name's Shisen Meiro. She actually started only a few months ago. After you, she's the newest employee here."

Kaneki nodded, "Sorry, I guess I don't really know anyone too well." a small, _very_ faint smile spread on his lips as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Would you mind pointing out all of our coworkers?" she blinked at him, staring blankly for a moment.

"Yea, whatever." was her angry response. She felt justified in her anger even though she knew in her heart she was just being ridiculous. "Well you know Koma and me." Touka gestured to the slightly older guy with the pompadour. Kaneki simply nodded again as Koma said, "Sup."

"Anyway," Touka pointed to another boy who was sitting at the table by himself, sipping coffee and minding his own business, with earbuds in his ears but he was wearing a waiter's uniform. He looked to be Kaneki's age or maybe Touka's. He too, had white hair, though Kaneki could see the tips of his hair were black, it reminded him of himself. Suddenly Touka scoffed, "Damn, I just realized that I work with three white-haired weirdos." she let out a sigh, "Whatever that's Joshiro, he's been here a few years, almost as long as I have. He's usually shy and nervous but opens up easy," Touka lowered her voice to a whisper, "though he's kinda annoying." Kaneki nodded as Touka continued, "That there is Irimi, she's nice but tends to stay to herself, she and Meiro don't really talk too much unless you bring up something that they like. Anyways, you've already met Albert and Yoshimura plus Yomo says you two have known each other for years now?" she asked more explained.

"Yeah," Kaneki answered. "Yomo and I met-" he was cut off by the sound of the bell jingling and the scent of a ghoul entered the shop. Kaneki sniffed the air and a smirk spread across his lips, "I'll handle this customer." he almost laughed and left the counter to greet Anteiku's newest customer.

Suddenly a gruff voice called from above her, "Who's that?" Touka was startled to Albert's voice. How long had he been there?

"I'm not sure, Kaneki said he'd handle it, though." she turned to face Albert and gave him a smile, "He also said that Hinami likes books and that she needs clothes that don't smell like the twenty-fourth ward." the giant man nodded in response. "I'll go ask Yoshimura if you can get off work early today." he left without giving Touka time to argue.

She looked over at where Kaneki was, he was sitting down at the table with the customer. It was another young man, though he appeared to be slightly older than Kaneki was. He had shaggy medium length red hair and bright green eyes. He appeared to have a rather toned muscular build, though Touka couldn't tell because of his clothing which consisted of blue jeans that were ripped at the knees, a gray shirt. But what was the most interesting article of clothing the man had was the dark trench coat with red chain detail across it. Touka could tell that this man and Kaneki were well acquainted as they held a rather civil conversation, sharing a few laughs but it seemed like whatever they were talking about was serious.

After a few minutes, Kaneki returned to the counter with an order for his friend or whatever the man was to the monochromatic haired ghoul. Touka's curiosity was heightened whenever she cast a glance at the man, sitting alone at the table closest to the door. He seemed to be observing everything about the coffee shop he was in. Kaneki returned to the table and sat with the man again, handing him his coffee.

"Who's that?" another, more feminine voice that the last asked. Touka looked over her shoulder to see Meiro standing there, she was staring at the red-haired customer sitting across from Kaneki. She seemed almost spaced out so Touka snapped her fingers in front of Meiro's face. "Who is that?" Meiro repeated, almost like she never asked the first time. Touka simply shrugged, "I dunno. Kaneki said he'd handle it, though. They obviously know each other."

"Touka," the sound of Albert's voice calling her almost made Touka angry. "Come on upstairs, you're done for the day." the teenage girl grumbled a bit before leaving Meiro to watch the two men talking in hushed tones. Touka couldn't even guess what the slightly older she-ghoul was feeling or thinking as she stormed upstairs, slightly upset of the timing Albert pulled her from work.

Touka put went to the room Kaneki shared with Hinami and rapped loudly on the door with her fist while calling the young girl's name. "Hinami?" a response came in the form of Hinami's rushed footsteps and the door suddenly swung open to reveal the young girl. "Albert's gonna take us out in a few minutes. So get ready okay?" she flashed the younger girl a smile. Hinami's face brightened and a wide smile spread across her features.

"Yay!" she exclaimed childishly and basically slammed the door in Touka's face with excitement. Touka smiled to herself at the girl's antics and headed to her own room to get ready for her day out with Albert and Hinami.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kaneki was sitting with the redheaded man. They spoke in hushed tones, though almost everyone in the coffee shop seemed to be minding their own business. There were no doubt ghouls here that could pick up on what they were saying if they listened hard enough. Both men wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

"So this is where you work now, huh?" Kaneki nodded to the redhead's question. "That's funny, the great Mukade works at a coffee shop." voiced the man. Kaneki simply shrugged, knowing that this was only teasing.

"You know, Daichi," started Kaneki, addressing the man by his name. "The Owl owns this place." but Daichi was not surprised, it seemed like he already knew this fact and simply nodded in his response, waiting for Kaneki to ask the right question. "What are you doing here?" there is was!

Daichi sighed and leaned back in his chair, "I was sent to make sure you and the lil girl got settled in just fine." Kaneki eyed him, knowing that's not really why Daichi was here. The green eyed man sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together under his chin. "The Josuke have taken the sixth. War's coming." Daichi then placed the proper amount of yen down on the table and left saying, "Thanks for the coffee, it was actually better than I thought it'd be." he left Anteiku seconds before Hinami, Touka, and Albert came down the stairs. They were all laughing about something that Albert said but Hinami's laughter trailed off when she saw Kaneki's grim expression.

Hinami approached Kaneki carefully, "Onii-chan," her voice was filled with concern. "What's wrong?" he didn't look at her for a moment until his attitude shifted suddenly. His head whipped up to look up at Hinami standing there, a smile on his face. To the young girl it looked like he was alright but to the onlookers Albert and Touka, they could tell something was wrong. Something happened with whoever it was that Kaneki was talking to earlier.

But the young man lied, "It's nothing Hinami," he gave her a reassuring smile. "You ready to go out?" Hinami nodded fiercely, "Good, try not to stray too far for Albert and Touka. They'll keep you safe," Kaneki then lowered his voice and leaned towards Hinami to whisper something in her ear. "If you smell any other ghouls or 'doves' let Albert know, he'll bring you back here." he then stood up and dusted down his uniform. "Better get back to work. Have fun you guys." with that, Kaneki began to walk around the tables and chairs picking up empty glasses and asking if anyone wanted refills.

Hinami followed after Albert and Touka out of Anteiku and into the streets of the twentieth ward. She knew Kaneki was lying to her when he said nothing was wrong. She knew that look, whenever he got that look on his face he was thinking really deeply about troubling things. He always tried to pretend that everything was okay but Hinami knew better, she was smarter than people thought. She could smell a familiar scent at the table where Kaneki was sitting, it must have been a member of the Sasaki Clan that stopped by to inform Kaneki was happenings in the twenty-fourth ward.

Hinami frowned to herself, she wasn't good with these kinds of things and needed reassurance, even though she usually knew what was happening. Albert must've noticed the girl's downcast attitude and quickly picked her up and lifted her onto his shoulders. Hinami let out a squeal then burst into laughter as he settled herself onto Albert's shoulders. Beside them, Touka smiled softly at Hinami's happiness. She knew the younger girl had it hard in the twenty-fourth ward. Hinami deserved to be happy, she was so innocent after all. Perhaps that's the real reason why Kaneki even left the tunnels, to give Hinami some shred of happiness and normalcy.

"Alright, where to first?" asked Albert.

* * *

 **Yay! Chapter three! Phew~~~! Y'all have no idea how many times I went over this because I didn't like it. Still feel like I could do better to be honest but I'm not sure how so I just decided to post it.**

 **Alright well for shoutouts for this I've gotta give certain people shoutouts because they created OCs that I'm using in this story. And then I have to reply to reviews and such. Here goes!**

 **OC Shoutouts!**

 **The first OC that was created by someone else was Albert! He was created by Sagrn.**

 **The next OC is Meiro, she was made by hawaiian-rainbow.**

 **Third OC that appeared but hasn't been used yet is Joshiro, created by Korivar.**

 **Daichi is an OC created by WickedDemon69.**

 **All OCs that were just mentioned were submitted to me in my forum OC Asylum. So if you're interested go there and make one!**

 **Review Shoutouts!**

 **(Chapter One)**

 **WickedDemon69, thank you for your encouraging review!**

 **I'm glad you think the clan wars make sense, Sagrn. I tried to keep it similar to the original by making them fight over territory. And yea, TouKen will be developed over time.**

 **hoobab, he is** _ **not**_ **Arima!**

 **You've already guessed correctly hawaiian-rainbow.**

 **BurningTemptation, your words were very helpful and inspired me to fix what you pointed out. I'm glad you support this fanfic and I hope you continue your constructive criticism!**

 **(Chapter Two)**

 **hoobab, it's okay. You went back and did it.**

 **BurningTemptation, I'm glad you like the fixed version. And don't worry about it, I plan to continue!**

 **As I've said Sagrn, TouKen will be developed in this story. Kenshi means Swordsman, last chapter he was introduced as Takehiko Fudo as his real name. And about the lore, you checked it in the forum so no problems there lol.**

 **Fancy , it's okay, everyone misses things. I sent you a PM concerning it.**

 **hawaiian-rainbow, I'm not telling but you're free to guess ;)**


	4. The Josuke

**Disclaimer: Not sure why I have to write this, I think it's obvious I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

* * *

 **The Josuke**

The twenty-fourth ward, best described a labyrinth of tunnels that exist under Tokyo. They are as expansive as the city that was above them and festering in those tunnels were ghouls in numbers that could easily overpower the CCG and take over Tokyo if they all were allied but instead they divided into clans and families and fought amongst themselves for territory and food. Each clan had laid claim to sections of the twenty-fourth, thus claiming ownership of the wards that were above the tunnels they controlled.

One of the larger, more powerful clans were known as the Josuke Clan. They have been enemies of the Sasaki Clan for generations and had been fighting over territory for just as long. Lately, the Josuke had been aligning themselves with other clans that were struggling to maintain themselves. It seemed to be out of pure kindness but to the Sasaki it was obvious the Josuke Clan was trying to further their reach and influence over the ghouls of Tokyo. The leader of the Josuke was cunning about the way he took in the other clans in and the Sasaki Clan had no proof of what he was doing, even though they were completely right.

Sitting in a crudely crafted throne of bones and skulls of his fallen enemies was said leader of the Josuke Clan was known as Katsu, he was a cunning and deceitful man that used tricks and lies to get what he wanted. Though, he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty and fight some either. His large, muscular frame towered over everyone around him even sitting on the throne. His always active kakugan scanned the room, perceiving everything about him. Shifting his body slightly in the throne, his large muscles bulged noticeably as he wore no shirt. He long, pale green hair remained in its tight bun as his eyes landed upon a bloodied figure that slowly sauntered into the room, right towards Katsu.

Ghouls parted as the bloody man walked forward, the visor of his helmet betrayed no emotion the man could have been feeling. Katsu raised an eyebrow at the sight of the man and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and interlocked his fingers together. The helmet-clad man stopped a few meters away from where Katsu was sitting and stared at him through the glowing red eyes of the helmet. He said nothing and just stood there, waiting for something that only the bloodied ghoul knew.

"What happened to you?" the ghoul wearing the helmet laughed at Katsu's question and then proceeded to remove his helmet. With the thing no longer on his head, the face of Takehiko was revealed. He smirked at Katsu with an unhinged glint in his eyes. He chuckled, hanging his head he shook it while he laughed.

"I found another one." was all Takehiko replied and he walked away, helmet in hand and shaking with mirth. Katsu didn't lean back, he simply stared at the ground with his jaw hard set in a grim expression. He would never understand Takehiko but he knew exactly what the man meant when he said those words. Katsu knew Takehiko always looked for worthy opponents and he had found only one until whatever he had done last night. It was obvious that Takehiko had lost to whoever he deemed worthy, or else he wouldn't have said anything because everyone would have been killed by the eccentric ghoul.

"Katsu," hearing his voice being called pulled the clan leader from his thoughts and he looked up to see a young man with the same pale green hair as him. In fact, they looked almost completely the same based on facial structure. The only difference was the younger ghoul had short hair, violet eyes, and a noticeably less bulky build. Katsu glared at the young man with slight disgust but motioned for him to continue. "We've brought prisoners from the latest battle. What would you have us do with them?"

Katsu brought a finger to his lips, thinking of his answer. "Bring them to me, I'd like to speak with them." the violet-eyed ghoul bowed to his leader and then motioned to several other ghouls over.

Among them were other ghouls that were thoroughly beaten and bruised, some even had large chunks of flesh missing and blood caking their forms, the sight of this seemingly pleased Katsu as they approached his throne. He looked over each and every one of the prisoners with a keen eye, noticing that most of them seemed to have their spirits broken except for one of them. Katsu could see the fighting spirit burning brightly in this ghoul's eyes. The sight of this caught Katsu's attention, he smirked internally and rose from his throne. His gigantic size and bulk made even clearer now that he towered over the prisoners.

"Teruo," the pale green haired ghoul was immediately at his leader's side. "Fetch Takehiko for me, I think one of these prisoners still has some fight in him." a dark, ominous look grew in Katsu's eyes as he stared down the ghoul that still had fire in his eyes. Teruo left to go get Takehiko.

He found the olive skinned ghoul in his usual location. Takehiko typically stayed in the small, hut-like room that he claimed as his own. There was a surprisingly, neatly made bed which Takehiko sat on, he wore no shirt to show off his toned, muscular form. He was nowhere near Katsu's size but he had a muscular build nonetheless. A bloodied and shredded shirt laid crumpled on ground while the golden eyed ghoul was scrubbing the inside of his helmet. Not looking up Takehiko asked, "What do you need?"

"Katsu wants you to deal with a prisoner." Takehiko looked up from what he was doing to stare at Teruo. He then looked back down at his helmet and kept scrubbing at the dried blood that was inside. "What do you want me to tell him?" Teruo asked, hoping Takehiko wouldn't disobey Katsu again. The raven haired ghoul waved his hand through the air in a simple gesture, notifying Teruo that he would be out soon. The violet-eyed ghoul let out a sigh of relief and left the other to finish cleaning his helmet.

Teruo left and walked back to where the similar looking Katsu was with the prisoners. "Takehiko said he will be out as soon as he finishes cleaning his helmet." the answer seemed to please Katsu as he nodded and sat back down in his throne, waiting for the mercenary.

He didn't have to wait long as Takehiko came out of his room, not bothering to put a shirt on but instead sliding his helmet back on over his head. The glowing red eyes activated much like a ghoul's kakugan would. "What's up boss?"

Katsu continued to look at the prisoner he had singled out. "See him," Takehiko's eyes followed Katsu's finger to the defiant looking captive. "His fighting spirit seems to still be blazing." Katsu's eyes narrowed as he glared at the ghoul, "Extinguish it."

A smirk played on Takehiko's lips under his helmet, "And the rest of them?" his question received a simple thumbs-down from Katsu. "Excellent." the eccentric ghoul walked forward to the first prisoner and snapped his neck before anyone could even react. This action made the resilient ghoul jump forward with anger but the chains around his wrists held him back. Takehiko simply chuckled, "My my, you are a feisty one. But please…" he thrust his sharpened hand into the chest of the second captive then violently ripped his arm from the body, the still beating heart held in his grasp.

"You bastard!" growled the still determined ghoul as he struggled against his restraints. Takehiko suddenly ran forward, heart still in hand and smashed the organ against the ghoul's face, with enough power and strength to send him several meters to the side as well as turn the heart to a bloody splatter mark.

Katsu watched with a dark interest as Takehiko turned to the third captive, who had fear in her eyes and he crouched down in front of her. Tilting his head he ran a hand along her cheek and jawline, this action made the she-ghoul look at him with a confused look as he then removed his helmet. Takehiko smiled softly at her, "Sorry, my hair is kinda a mess right now, haha" he laughed slightly then leaned towards her and licked her neck, kissing it lightly. Her eyes grew wide as well as everyone else who was watching, except for Katsu, he simply sat and watched with the same interest as before. Takehiko began to kiss and suck along the she-ghoul's neck, earning whimpering moans of either pleasure or protest. He reached the front of her neck after leaving teeth marks and bruises along her skin before she knew what was happening he sunk his teeth into her throat, biting through skin and crushing her windpipe. Blood sprayed from the wound as he aggressively tore away, ripping her esophagus, rendering her dead. Takehiko then turned to the remaining prisoner, the one with fight left. He spat out the bloody, muscular tube and gurgled the remaining blood in his mouth and spat that out too.

"I'll kill you!" shouted the ghoul as he thrashed against the cuffs on his wrists. Using all his strength he shattered the metal and lunged at Takehiko in a blind rage. A lopsided grin spread along the golden eyed ghoul's lips as his enemy grew closer. He dodged to the side with ease as the ghoul flew past but as soon as he touched the ground, he turned on his toes and lunged at Takehiko again.

* * *

Meanwhile in the twentieth ward, Kaneki sitting in a booth at Anteiku, sipping coffee as it was his day off. His mind was swarming with thoughts of what Daichi had told him. " _The Josuke have taken the sixth. War's coming."_ If the Josuke had taken the sixth ward then war really was inevitable, he'd have to return to the twenty-fourth ward to fight for the Sasaki, they'd need him. Especially if _that_ ghoul was there, he would most likely be too. Kaneki knew how strong the helmet-clad ghoul was but they seemed to be on the same level as each other as last time they both walked away with substantial wounds. Vivid memories of the last time they met flashed through his mind.

 _Flashback_

 _Kaneki ran through the winding tunnels, trying to reach the hunting group that had not returned yet. Hoping that they hadn't run into a Josuke raiding party, Kaneki increased his speed. The metallic scent of blood stung his nose and he headed to the directions of smell. He arrived on the scene to see a helmet-clad ghoul chopping up dead bodies around him as several other ghouls were eating the dead. Kaneki looked around to see that all the dead bodies were Sasaki Clansmen, it was the hunting party!_

 _Kaneki looked up from the dead bodies of his clansmen to see two glowing red eyes looking directly at his one visible eye. Clenching his fists, Kaneki's kakugan activated._

" _Hello there," greeted the helmet-clad ghoul. "Nice to see you again,_ Mukade _." the ghoul put a certain amount of enthesis on Kaneki's moniker. "I'd love to deal with you right now but as you can see," he gestured to still living body of a Sasaki ghoul, a quinque sword was embedded into his chest with a nonlethal blow. Gritting his teeth, Kaneki spat out the ghoul's moniker, "Kenshi."_

 _The helmet-clad ghoul, Kenshi, simply motioned for two of the Josuke around to attack Kaneki. The ghoul on the right had an ukaku which erupted from his shoulder in the form of one spiky plate, while the ghoul to Kaneki's left was a bikaku, that was going to be difficult to deal with as a ghoul with a bikaku had a natural advantage over a ghoul with a rinkaku. A barrage of crystallized shards, sent from the ukaku, was sent Kaneki's way. He dodged to the left, charging the bikaku wielder. The second before they could clash, Kaneki kicked off the ground, launching himself into the air. Four rinkaku tentacles erupted from his lower back and impaled the ghoul as backflipped through the air. Landing on his feet, Kaneki twisted his body and whipped his kagune around with the dead ghoul still stuck on the tentacles. The body flew off and crashed into the incoming ukaku ghoul._

" _My, my, my," Kenshi's voice caught Kaneki's attention and his anger rose again. "Now that was impressive. Too bad you die here my friend." those words made Kaneki clench his fists, his anger grew. Kenshi pointed the quinque at Kaneki and he finally got a good look at it. A nodachi, the perfect combination of close and mid-range combat as a skilled swordsman could use the large blade to keep his enemies at a certain distance but still deal damage like one would with a regular sword. The last time they had fought Kaneki had almost lost his life to that weapon, this time, would be different._

 _Tensing the muscles in his legs Kaneki prepared to rush Kenshi but the helmet-clad ghoul had already charged him. Kaneki was forced to dodge the sweeping blade by cartwheeling away. His kagune trailed behind him and Kenshi was forced to leap back as well. The two stared at each other, Kaneki's visible eye glaring while Kenshi's eyes were masked by his helmet. They charged at one another, each intent on killing the other. Kaneki swung his two of his kagune at Kenshi who easily deflected them both with his quinque. They were close now, close enough to exchange blows of fists._

"Kaneki," the sound of his name being called pulled him out of this thoughts. He shook his head and looked up to see Touka standing there in her school uniform, with a frustrated look on her face. He frowned at her and motioned for her to sit, which she did.

"Hey Touka," he greeted her. "What's up?"

"What'd your friend tell you yesterday?" that was just like her, getting straight to the point and not caring if she upset anyone with her words. Kaneki smiled inwardly at her, she certainly was a character. Kaneki took another sip of his coffee before answering her.

"It's not something you should worry about." his answer wasn't the one she wanted and he knew it but there was no way he could tell her about what was going on in the twenty-fourth. She didn't need to get pulled into anything after she had such a privileged life. Well compared to him anyway.

"Why won't you just tell me?!" she barked at him, which he knew would happen. Sighing deeply Kaneki frowned harder then took another sip of coffee, draining the cup before looking back at Touka. It was obvious she was frustrated and getting impatient with him. Sighing again he nodded.

"Follow me, we shouldn't talk here." he stood and left the proper amount of money to pay for his coffee, which was strange as he worked here and didn't have to pay for coffee. He then left to go upstairs, Touka followed after him. He entered his room and waited for her to enter but instead she leaned against the doorframe and didn't take another step inside the room. Kaneki raised an eyebrow at her but decided it didn't matter.

"That friend was a member of the Sasaki Clan," Kaneki started. "So he's actually more of family. But anyway he came by to check how Hinami and I were dealing with the relocation." pausing to think of how to word the next statement he ran his fingers through his hair. "He gave me some information about the status of the twenty-fourth ward is all."

"I asked what'd he tell you." she growled, it was obvious she had grown impatient with him.

"Why does it matter to you?!" Kaneki snapped and shouted at her.

Touka took a step back in shock, Kaneki had been mostly calm and docile with everyone here. This was the first time he had ever snapped at anyone. Gritting her teeth Touka stomped her foot, clenching her fists she stepped forward ready to fight him. "Because your younger sister fucking cares about you and your attitude is making her upset! She deserves to know what's going on, you can't bottle up all your fucking emotions and thoughts you bastard! She's your family and you should-" Kaneki cut her off.

"What do you know of the Josuke Clan?" his question caught Touka off guard and she stuttered before she was actually able to form a coherent thought.

"What?" Kaneki frowned and shook his head at her response.

"The Josuke Clan, what do you know about them?" he repeated.

"Well, umm… I know that they're one of the oldest ghoul clans here in Tokyo. And that they don't get along with the Sasaki, your clan." Touka answered honestly, she had never been to the twenty-fourth ward, besides the training room they had under Anteiku but she'd heard stories of the hellhole from customers and other employees.

"The Josuke Clan, as well as the Sasaki, hails from an ancient warrior ghoul clan that opposed the Sasaki clan centuries ago. The Josuke have held a grudge against the Sasaki Clan for hundreds of years and they have trained their youth and children to have a deep hatred for the Sasaki as well. Typically the fights are over territory the Josuke have recently taken the sixth ward and the tunnels under it. Meaning they are encroaching on Tsumemasa territory. Because of this, the Tsumemasa Clan has allied themselves to the Sasaki in order to retain their territory. The Josuke believe the Sasaki are gathering allies to wage war and took over the sixth ward in order to control more land and have the advantage against the Sasaki. Currently, they have not declared war but it is inevitable now." Kaneki explained to Touka, her eyes widened in fear of what he said.

"W… War?" she stuttered, obviously afraid of what that would mean.

Kaneki nodded, "Yes. I've already informed Yoshimura about this, he seems to understand the seriousness of this news. If the Josuke declare war on the Sasaki then I must return to aid my clan. I've already packed my bags and am prepared for this."

"Y… you would will… willingly return to f… fight in a… in a war?" she stuttered more.

Kaneki's jawline hardened and his eyes shone with determination. Touka gasped at how much resolve he had as he simply nodded. She blinked in shock then ran out from the doorway to her own room, leaving Kaneki in confusion.

Back in the twenty-fourth ward, Takehiko was battling the lone ghoul in front of several onlookers that had gathered. The ghoul kept attacking Takehiko, using his ukaku as a close ranged blade instead of a long distance tool. Jumping to the side, Takehiko dodged another attack from the ghoul and called out to a member of the crowd.

"Hey you," he shouted, pointing at a random ghoul. He was then forced to retract his arm in order to keep it attached to his body as the ghoul he was fighting attacked with another downward slash. "Go get me my weapon." he kicked off the ground with his left foot, swinging his right leg towards the other ghoul's jaw. The power behind Takehiko's kick sent his enemy flying into the air as he landed back on his feet. While in midair the ghoul attacked with in the form of hardened shards of kagune, earning a smirk from Takehiko. "So you can do long range?" he asked as he weaved through the volley of fragments with insane speeds. "What's your name?"

The ghoul landed back on his toes and launched himself towards Takehiko again, "The name's Tsumemasa Buta~~!" shouted the ghoul, now identified as Buta while he raced forward. A smirk spread across Takehiko's lips as he awaited the incoming ghoul. He caught the ghoul carrying his weapon push through the crowd out of the corner of his eye and extended his arm out in that direction. Buta didn't question it, he was so close to killing his enemy.

Something flew through the air towards Takehiko. He snatched it out of the air and it burst into the form of a nodachi with a gut hook on the back of the blade near the tip. The entire blade being black with a glowing azure line like that of the hamon line. Buta's eye grew wide as he realized what Takehiko was holding, he was too close to turn avoid it and going too fast to stop. So in desperation, he swung his ukaku blade at his enemy. Takehiko raised his left arm and blocked the kagune, the sharp edge dug into his arm and bit into the bone but before the kagune could cleave completely through Takehiko's arm he thrust his nodachi into Buta's chest. The power behind the ukaku gave out and stopped after cutting through one bone. Takehiko yanked the blade from his enemy's chest, the gut hook tearing the muscle and shredding it. The golden eyed ghoul pulled his arm away from the ukaku kagune and the dead body of Buta collapsed to the ground, blood began to gush from the hole in his chest.

Takehiko's arm healed almost instantly and he clenched and unclenched his fist a few times to make sure it was alright. "Well that was fun," he said looking up from his hand and up at Katsu. "Thanks for choosing me boss." before the larger ghoul could respond, Takehiko left for his room. His nodachi transformed back into a modified version of a ghoul investigator's case. Appearing as a black and brown shoulder bag with a strap and an odd handle jutting out of the top.

As Katsu watched Takehiko walked away, only one thought crossed the Josuke Clan leader's mind. " _The Josuke are lucky Takehiko is on our side."_

* * *

 **First off I'd like to apologize for the wait, my laptop has been having lots of problems lately and I haven't been able to get it to work very well. So I'm sorry y'all. Secondly I'd like to thank y'all for the continued support even while I was MIA, it means more than y'all know.**

 **OC Shoutouts!**

 **No OC shoutouts for this chapter as all the characters that appeared are either canon characters or OCs I created.**

 **Review Shoutouts!**

 **WickedDemon69, you had the first review. And yes Daichi is actually going to be important. If you go over to the forum and look for an OC I created named Sasaki Akio you'll see why.**

 **Eliphas-Chaos, Albert is Sagrn's OC so you'll have to read his fanfic to know that haha.**

 **hawaiian-rainbow, thanks for submitting her so I could. And Albert is cool!**

 **Sagrn, I'm glad you approve of how I wrote your OC. He seems to be a favorite already!**

 **hoobab, I'm well aware you like action. So how was this chapter? In my opinion it could've been so much better but I was getting frustrated with my laptop and decided to finish it as soon as possible. Despite the issues I think I did alright but could've definiately been better.**

 **Guest (Keep it up), thank you, I plan to.**

 **, I'm not too good at Spainsh but thanks for following the fanfic!**


	5. Doves and Ravens

**Disclaimer: Not sure why I have to write this, I think it's obvious I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

* * *

 **Doves and Ravens**

They say that rainy days were supposed to be gloomy and depressing but to the gangly, stick-like man days like this were perfect. The light rain diluted the senses of his prey enough so that he could successfully exterminate them. And to him, there was nothing that he enjoyed more than that, the extermination of ghouls. A deranged grin practically split the man's features making his sunken cheeks seem even more prominent. His long, silvery-gray hair matted and stuck to his face due to the rain.

"Mr. Mado," a voice called to the gangly man. He turned to gaze at the oncoming figure of his partner. "I just got off the phone with the Main Office. We've been reassigned to the twentieth-ward?" the thin, old man nodded to his large, muscular partner. "But sir, with the latest attack by Kenshi shouldn't we stay here in the thirteenth?"

Mr. Mado shook his head at the younger man, "No, Amon, Kenshi is a crafty ghoul and moves around too much, besides a ghoul like Kenshi is nothing compared to the spoils awaiting us in the twentieth. There's the Binge Eater, the Gourmet, and reports of other top list ghouls hiding in the peaceful streets of the twentieth!" Mado's whole body shook with glee at the thought of his new prey. "Relax Amon, the twentieth ward will be quite a goldmine for us. I'll be getting plenty of new quinque!"

"But what about Kenshi, Mr. Mado?" the large young man, Amon asked. Mado raised an eyebrow at his partner, not sure why he was so obsessed with the ghoul Kenshi.

"Like I said Amon," Mado began. "Kenshi is crafty. And while he is a dangerous top list ghoul, he's very mobile and never stays put. That's why he's been wreaking havoc on just about every ward in Tokyo. Every investigator is either afraid of him or, like you, wants him gone." Mado explained but Amon didn't seem satisfied.

"He killed six investigators and fled the scene two nights ago. He couldn't have gotten far, sir." protested Amon, determined to find and end the SS-rated ghoul.

"Yes Amon but he was also able to escape Investigator Hajime and even wound him." retorted Mado. This simple fact made Amon's eyes grow wide, Hajime was the CCG's second most powerful investigator behind Arima. The two of them were practically on the same level. Amon had never met either of the men but the stories he had heard of them were things out of manga and anime that kids would watch. "Possibly the smallest wound ever, less than that of a papercut. A tiny cut on the right of his jaw angled upward. I was quite amazed when I first saw it but of course, Kenshi didn't walk away unharmed. The bastard was missing the entire right side of his abdomen and had several other holes covering his body. Though I'm upset I didn't get to have a crack at him, his kagune is something I've envied for years."

"How long has Kenshi been causing trouble Mr. Mado?" the question made Mado bring a finger to his lips and hummed in thought.

"I believe it's been eight years since he first appeared. Though he was nothing more than a child at the time he used a sword to kill our men, because of this, most investigators that fought him lost their lives. None of us were prepared for a ghoul who fought with a weapon. He killed a special investigator about four or five years ago and took his quinque, it's disgusting to think a ghoul uses the same weapon as us, investigators." Amon nodded at his partner's words.

"So we're heading to the twentieth ward, sir?" asked Amon.

Mado nodded, "Indeed Amon, the Binge Eater will be the ghoul we focus on first."

And together the two investigators began walking down the road. Little did they know a pair of attentive eyes watched them from above. The black and red kakugan following the investigators as they made their way down the street. A leather mask, split down the middle, breaking off into white on one side and black on the other. With a jagged smile design across the face that had velcro straps holding it closed covered the face of the eavesdropping ghoul. He fished a cellphone out of his pocket and dialed a number he knew by heart. The phone rang twice before he was greeted by, **"What is it, Joshiro?"**

"Yomo, there's two 'doves' headed to the twentieth ward." the masked ghoul could feel the surprise from Yomo's side of the phone. There was silence for a moment before Yomo spoke up again.

 **"I'll inform Yoshimura. Thanks for letting me know."**

"No problem." Joshiro hung up the phone and stuffed it back into his pocket. His eyes fell back to the investigators, they still hadn't noticed him and wanted to keep it that way. He took off in the opposite direction as the 'doves', he'd have to take the long way back to the twentieth-ward.

* * *

In the CCG Main Office in the first ward of Tokyo, two men sat at their respective desks filling out paperwork. Both men had hair white as snow and simple framed glasses on their nose. What was different was their eyes, one having stormy gray eyes while the other's were almost colorless with a very pale pink. Another difference was their size, while the one with gray eyes was slightly above average height with a lean, muscular build the one with colorless eyes happened to be the same height but his muscular build was much buffer and bulging, barely restrained by his white overcoat. The final difference was the scars; both men had small scars on their face. The investigator with gray eyes had a tiny scar under his right eye while the other man had a fairly new scar angling upward on his jaw. They both seemed to be caught up in their own work, not bothering to look up at the other or say a word. Neither cared enough to look up at the subordinate who had just entered the room.

"Special Class A… Arima and Sp… Special Class Hajime…" the man stuttered. He then cleared his throat and tried again. "There's been reported sightings of ghoul skirmishes in the sixth ward. They're believed to be territory disputes."

The investigator with gray eyes spoke up without looking up from his work, "I don't see why a few special investigators can't handle it."

Shaking his head, the other investigator stood up. "I'll take care of this." he pushed his chair in and grabbed the black suitcase and the reddish-orange vein-like cracks pulsed at his touch. The younger, inexperienced investigator's face became distorted in a combination of shock and disgust. He had heard stories of Hajime's quinque but didn't believe them. Obviously, he should have believed them. The young investigator stared at the pulsing briefcase with wide eyes. He finally broke his stare when he felt a hardened glare trained on him. Looking up the investigator saw Special Class Hajime looking at him with what seemed anger.

"Here," the famed special class investigator tossed the black case to the novice investigator. The young man caught it but as soon as he did, he wished he hadn't. He could feel the box pulsing in his arms, the strange feeling made the young investigator hold the case oddly as he tried not to focus on how similar it felt to a heartbeat. Hajime then picked up another case which looked to be a normal quinque case.

"W… what's that one?" questioned the young investigator.

Hajime simply looked from the young man to the case and back again, "It's my spare." with that the burly man left the room, the new investigator rushed after him leaving Arima alone in the room. The gray-eyed investigator finally looked up to where Hajime usually would be. His mouth was partially open as if to say something. "Ah, of course, you left." a small smile touched Arima's lips then he went back to his paperwork.

Several minutes later, Investigator Hajime arrived in the sixth ward, right in front of an abandoned apartment complex. Climbing out of the CCG van, Hajime could now hear the sounds of combat echoing from inside the building. Another investigator ran towards him, the man looked a little worse for wear as his body armor was torn and ripped in various locations and he had blood splattered all over his body, whether it was his, other investigator's or ghouls, Hajime didn't know and he didn't care. The beefy investigator waited for the younger man who had driven him here to exit the vehicle and bring the quinque cases.

"H… here Investigator Ha… Hajime." the stuttering young man said, extending the black, pulsing case to Hajime. The muscular man took it and waited for the second case, which the young investigator handed to him with confusion.

"Hajime," the battered investigator repeated. "Why are you here?" he asked, anger in his voice.

Hajime said nothing, instead, he only walked towards the entrance of the building. The younger investigator took a step forward to follow but Hajime held up a hand, signaling that his assistance was no longer needed. So the young man fell back to stand with the battered investigator while Special Class Hajime entered the apartment complex.

* * *

"What? 'Doves' in the twentieth?" asked a rather loud voice asked as he greedily tore into the severed leg before him. Blood trickled from his mouth, coating his chin and dribbling down his neck. He looked threatening, in fact, he looked rather unhinged and crazed from the look in his currently active kakugan. His olive skin was unlike anyone else's skin tone and his raven colored hair was tended to by a good comb held by a well-trained hand.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what 'doves' are doing there either. It's supposed to be the most docile ward of Tokyo." grumbled another ghoul, this one appeared to much more threatening as she had much less muscle mass than the unpredictable person sitting opposite her. Skeleton tattoos covered her entire body, making her look like she was inside out. Her blood red eyes didn't help that much either. Her short black hair hung around her face, only reaching the bottom of her neck, so compared to the eccentric man in front of her, she looked a much lesser threat.

"Hmm," hummed the raven haired man. "Perhaps that Owl is getting too old to handle his own ward. I heard that the Binge Eater lives there now and he's probably too old to take care of her. You know how Rize can be." the man stood up, dropping his unfinished meal back onto the blood covered plate. "You can have the rest Ren, I'm going to have a word with Katsu." he left and the woman, Ren, let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding in. Something about that ghoul made her uneasy and she wasn't the only one who felt it either, the entire Josuke Clan was wary of him. Once he donned that helmet of his and those red lights lit up like kakugan, there was no telling what he would do. Hell, there was no telling what he would do even before he put on the helmet, it's like he was some sort of sudden catastrophe, unpredictable and incredibly dangerous.

Takehiko entered the 'throne room' as he had taken to call it, mainly because the only thing in the large room was the crudely crafted throne that Katsu sat upon. But that's exactly where he was headed so it didn't matter much to the golden eyed ghoul. He marched right up to the throne and stood feet away from Katsu, that's when he noticed a flicker of fear in the large ghoul's eyes. At the sight of this, a smirk spread across Takehiko's lips and he backed up a few steps in order to ease the fear and tension that his employer was currently feeling.

"Hey Boss," he started. "I was wondering if I could take Teruo with me on a little adventure." he wagged his eyebrows and his mischievous smirk never faded from his lips. Katsu still seemed to be feeling afraid so Takehiko decided to do something about it. "Relax, if I was gonna kill you, you'd be dead already." chuckled the raven haired ghoul. Katsu seemed to relax but Takehiko could tell he was still on edge, which was good. He wanted people to fear him, to be afraid of him. He wanted to be unexpected and unpredictable. And he was, almost every member of the Josuke Clan was afraid of him, not just his power but the fact that he was a wild card and no one knew exactly what he'd do, only that death and destruction would follow. "Anyway, I wanted to ask if you knew why there are 'doves' in the twentieth? I thought most would be headed to the thirteenth after that stunt I pulled a few nights ago, or at least the sixth because of our takeover."

Katsu nodded, obviously, he knew something. "It's just two from the main 'nest' they're investigating the Binge Eater."

"Rize," Takehiko muttered under his breath, too quiet for Katsu to hear. "Thanks, Boss, I'll be chilling in the twentieth if you need anything." he left for his room before calling over his shoulder, "Oh and Teruo's coming too!" Katsu had not qualm with that, he hated even looking at that piece of trash (well at least in his eyes) Teruo. The large ghoul settled back into his throne as Takehiko walked away.

The golden eyed ghoul's body shook with anticipation of going to the docile twentieth ward and stirring things up. He entered his room, grabbing a bag he began to pack his things. Takehiko wasn't sure how long he'd be gone and he wasn't sure exactly why he was leaving, perhaps hearing of 'doves' in the most peaceful ward of Toyko had stimulated some curiosity within him and he wanted to find out what was going on.

His thoughts traveled to that glutton, Rize. He met her almost a year ago in the eleventh ward and they happened to hit it off, Takehiko remembered the crazy nights they had killing humans in high quantities. They shared those feasts for several nights before Katsu called Takehiko to deal with a rather troublesome 'dove'. When he returned to the eleventh ward days later, Rize was gone and he had no idea where she went, until today. No doubt the Binge Eater was her, he knew how much she loved to eat.

His thoughts were broken by the sound of his name being called, "Takehiko," he turned to face whoever had called him and saw Teruo standing there, leaning against the doorframe. "I heard that you're headed to the twentieth ward." the green haired ghoul asked more than said. Takehiko simply nodded and continued packing. "And I'm coming?" this was definitely a question. Takehiko hummed his reply and Teruo nodded then entered the room and sat on the bed while Takehiko packed his bag. "So why exactly are we headed to the twentieth ward?"

Fortunately, for Teruo, this was not a question Takehiko could answer with a yes or no, requiring Takehiko to actually speak with him. Which he did, "Because there's 'doves' in the ward now," Takehiko tossed his bag to Teruo, who caught it skillfully. "And I want to know why. It's supposed to be the most peaceful ward in Tokyo." Teruo caught the mischevious glint in Takehiko's eyes and he knew exactly what was going on. "Plus, it'd be nice to go fuck some shit up since you and I haven't hung out recently."

Teruo chuckled a bit at that, "Well maybe we could if you didn't go out and get yourself nearly killed in the thirteenth ward." Teruo joked.

"Well," Takehiko grabbed his helmet, tucking it under his arm. "I like to have fun."

* * *

Back in the sixth ward, Hajime sped around the room with what seemed like impossible speed due to his large bulk. Hardened kagune shards sped through the air, tearing apart the walls and bodies of the dead ghouls and investigators that were within. The one responsible for those shards was the lone ghoul in the center of the room, his ukaku was spread wide as he tried to pin down the insanely fast investigator. He trailed the man around the room in circles, in an attempt to kill or at least wound the man but no matter how hard he tried, the ghoul couldn't seem to land a hit on the 'dove'.

Hajime charged forward, tired of toying with the ghoul in hopes of exhausting him. From the tip of his quinque, he blasted a beam of concentrated Rc cells which struck the ghoul's left shoulder, immobilizing him for a second. The steady stream of kagune shards stopped as the smoky ukaku wings faded in a red Rc mist and a giant hole was blasted through the ghoul's shoulder, severing the arm from the body. Hajime didn't stop his advance as the ghoul howled in pain. He thrust his lance like quinque into the ghouls chest and then fired another beam of concentrated Rc cells, this caused the insides of the ghoul to be cooked and the whole body became singed and burnt. Hajime swiftly removed his weapon and walked calmly past the ghoul as he fell to the ground, dead.

Upon entering the next room, Hajime was forced to leap to the side as two giant, purple tentacles sped past where he was just standing. Wasting no time, Hajime opened fire on the ghoul that tried to spear him and as always, his aim was dead center. The ghoul's abdomen was blown and her kagune faded away as her kakuhou were obliterated. Without taking the time to admire his handiwork, Hajime deflected a tail that swung through the air at him. Forcing the extra appendage away from him with his quinque, Hajime took aim and fired. And another ghoul fell, with a hole through his chest. Hajime moved on to the next ghoul with no concern for the dead ghoul before him. He charged forward with inhuman speed, he twirled through the air to dodge a barrage from an ukaku. Using his quinque's long distance feature, he took down two more ghouls before his feet even touched the ground. Once he landed, Hajime easily dodged a koukaku's attack and proceeded to stab the ghoul in the chest. The force of his thrust punched the tip of the quinque through the ghoul and Hajime used the large koukaku user as a shield as he exchanged fire with the ukaku. With the use of a dead ghoul as a shield, Hajime was less mobile compared to the faster ukaku which sped around the room, filling the dead ghoul with kagune shards.

The ukaku ghoul sped past Hajime, getting behind him and the shield. A sense of pride and victory filled the ghoul as he came down on Hajime, trying to use his ukaku to slice the albino man in two. But Hajime was so much faster than the ghoul. He pulled his quinque from the dead ghoul's body and spun around, blocking the ukaku wing with ease. The ghoul's eyes widened in shock at the investigator's strength. Before the ghoul could react, Hajime threw the grew back by fully extending his arm then he turned and shot at the ghoul with his quinque. A headless body crashed against the wall with a sickening sound of blood splattering.

Tired of going easy on these ghouls, Hajime flicked the loose blood off his lance and charged into the next room. He switched his quinque back to his dominate hand and Hajime used that hand to end this fight. He raced around the room, using his quinque to cleave through his enemies. He used the lance to turn the ghouls to mincemeat, cleaving arms, legs, heads, and kagune from bodies as he practically flew around the room. Dodging a kagune tentacle with ease, he slices right through it with the lance before he took aim and blew a hole through the ghoul's chest. Hajime turned and thrust his quinque through the abdomen of another ghoul but simply continued his movements, letting the dead body slip off his lance as he raced to meet the next ghoul.

The battered investigator and the young investigator had walked into the room and they watched the spectacle as Hajime easily battled the twenty plus ghouls and he was winning! The bulky man moved with impossible speeds for his large size as he ducked and weaved passed what would have been life ending attacks to someone less skilled than him. He cut through kagune cleanly even with the lance styled weapon and bore through bodies like he was simply putting a pencil into an automatic sharpener. Hajime turned, hopping over a rinkaku tentacle he aimed his quinque and blasted a hole through another ghoul. He spun around, cleaving through the body of another ghoul as he did. The halves of said ghoul continued to run past him until the separate legs gave out and crumpled to the ground, that was the last ghoul. Hajime flicked his wrist, sending the loose blood from his weapon.

He turned to face the two onlooking investigators as his quinque took its briefcase form once again. He simply tossed the 'spare' quinque to the young investigator who caught it clumsily and held it awkwardly in his arms. "We're leaving. I have paperwork to finish, plus all the new paperwork from this." he waved his arm around the blood-soaked room. The young investigator followed Hajime, leaving the battered investigator to gawk at the albino's handiwork.

* * *

 **Thanks for the favorites and follows but reviews are actually appreciated much more than both because I'd like to hear what y'all think. But thanks anyway y'all!**

 **OC Shoutouts!**

 **Joshiro was created by Korivar**

 **Ren was created by WickedDemon69**

 **All other OCs were made by me.**

 **Review Shoutouts!**

 **Congrats Sagrn! You had the first review! No problemo man, it's actually cool to read about the character before and after haha!**

 **Get over it hoobab! Lol jk jk, yeah shirtless men. And yes Takehiko (Kenshi) is a BAMF. Sotan will be coming in soon.**

 **halfeyedknight, glad to know you're a Touka fan. Hope you're also a TouKen fan as well!**

 **WickedDemon69, here's another OC of yours. Sure she didn't do much but she's there!**

 **daliapv. perez, I'm glad you like it! I'm still not good at reading Spanish. Sorry /:**

 **Lol, you're not the only one hawaiian-rainbow. Everyone loves Takehiko (Kenshi), especially when he kills. But yeah, I love writing scenes like that with the throat ripping out. And I did PM about the question you had, right?**


	6. Reunion Part I

**Disclaimer: Not sure why I have to write this, I think it's obvious I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

* * *

 **Reunion Part One**

Takehiko sighed audibly and sat down on a bench in the pavilion, he and Teruo had just arrived in the twentieth ward and he was already bored. As it turns out, peace isn't really his thing but for whatever reason he thought it'd be a good thing to come here. The possibility of meeting Rize again made him act without thinking, then again he always acts without thinking so what was so different this time?

"Takehiko," his companion called to him, causing Takehiko to look up from the ground he was currently staring at. "What's wrong? You seem distracted." the violet eyed man looked down at Takehiko with slight worry in his eyes. That was odd, no one ever cared about him before and he wasn't used to it.

"Stop worrying about me, would you?" Takehiko sighed at Teruo, having people care about you was annoying. "I'm fine, just bored as hell. There's really nothing to do in this ward."

Teruo raised an eyebrow, "Then why'd we come here?" this question received a glare from Takehiko.

"Because I'm looking for someone," he stood up and started walking again. Teruo followed closely behind him. "She's most likely the reason the 'doves' are here in the twentieth ward and we've got a good deal of catching up to do." a smirk spread across his lips. " _Where oh where are you, Rize."_

"So who exactly are you looking for?" asked Teruo, "You said 'she' so whoever it is, they must be a girl. Perhaps an ex girlfriend?" the teasing tone of his voice rewarded another glare from Takehiko, who rounded on him and sent a fist into his gut. It wasn't a powerful punch but enough to knock the wind from Teruo's lungs.

The green haired ghoul staggered back, clutching his gut and gasping for breath while the raven haired ghoul turned away from his traveling companion with an agitated expression plastered on his face. He began to walk away when he caught a glimpse of violet out of the corner of his eyes. He whipped his head about, quick enough to give himself whiplash, in order to search the crowd for that small violent head of hair. His eyes immediately locked onto it and his normal smirk was replaced with a different, almost happy smile.

Teruo, who had recovered from the hit dealt to his stomach, looked at Takehiko and shook his head. "Not a girlfriend, huh?" he muttered under his breath.

"I heard that." Takehiko said, not taking his eyes from the young woman that walked down the street. "C'mon!" he said and ran right out into traffic.

Cars honked and swerved as Takehiko dashed across the road. He hopped over the hood of a car, sliding against the hood and then somersaulted off the road and onto the other side. Pedestrians stared at him like he was crazy but Takehiko simply pushed them to the side as he shoved his way through the crowd, desperately trying to reach her. He chased after her, weaving his way through the crowd as she seemed to move with grace, easily maneuvering in the crowd of people. Takehiko growled in frustration and pushed another civilian to the ground as he struggled to get to her.

He finally was able to escape the large clump of people and he stumbled a few feet behind her. "Rize…" Takehiko called for her and she froze but didn't turn around. "Rize, it's me. Do… do you remember me?" he asked but she still didn't turn to face him.

Unknown to him, wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth made up the shocked expression on her face as he began to laugh basically to himself. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't remember me. It was almost a year ago and we only had a week together." a chuckle escaped his lips. She gasped slightly to herself but still didn't turn around. Takehiko exhaled in a loud sigh, "It was worth a shot, well whatever." he laughed to himself again. Looking up at the sky with a frown but he laughed anyway.

"Takehiko…?" she asked, almost skeptical about it. Despite her uncertain tone a smirk spread across his lip and he nodded even though she still hadn't turned to face him. He looked at her back, waiting for her to turn and slowly she did. Her dress and long purple hair twirled around her and fell back down perfectly. Her eyes grew even wider in shock at the sight of his face but his smirk spread and he flashed his pearly white teeth at her for a moment.

"Hey, long time no see huh?" she smiled sweetly at his words and they walked to each other, meeting in the middle. "So, how've you been?" he asked, almost comically to which she giggled to herself.

"Why don't we go get a cup of coffee and talk?" she smiled up at him and he nodded.

"Sounds good to me," turning around, he looked for Teruo. "I'm sure the person I'm traveling wouldn't mind." he said, turning back to her.

"Wonderful, let's go!" she exclaimed excitedly and took his hand and they began to walk down the road to a certain coffee shop.

* * *

While the two reunited ghouls made their way down the street, another pair of ghouls were sparring underneath the twentieth ward's grand coffee shop, Anteiku. Two SS-rated ghouls racing around, clashing with one another. While they trained several employees watched the spectacle and they were captivated by the amazing sight of these two fighting one another. The way they moved was something out of a comic book or anime teenagers would watch.

Both had their kagune out, in a display of blood red tentacles like some elegant dance of death.

Hinami jumped back, using her koukaku to guard herself from her white haired opponent's onslaught, while aiming her own rinkaku at his chest. He used his own rinkaku to block her attack but this is what the younger girl was waiting for, her kou koukaku spread open like flower petals as she surged forward. She easily broke through his defense with her heavy koukaku, breaking through his brittle rinkaku but he had experience as well as power and dealt her a swift jab to her stomach which sent her several meters away, her feet skidding against the ground.

Despite this only being training, it was obvious Kaneki wasn't going to let the younger girl win. According to him, she needed to learn how real combat would be and he was going to make sure she was strong enough to take care of herself. She did have an advantage over regular ghoul being that she was a chimera but that was only an advantage if she knew how to use her kagune. Which is why they were down here to begin with, besides Hinami surprisingly loved to fight. Which was odd to those who watched because she seemed so pacifistic usually.

Touka bit her lip with slight anger at the fact that Kaneki would hit Hinami like that but she swallowed her protests because she knew this was training that Hinami herself had asked for. Despite it just being training Kaneki showed no signs of going easy on Hinami, at least in Touka's eyes but to the others watching they could tell the monochromatic haired ghoul was holding back immensely and that scared them.

Kaneki rushed Hinami with speed that rivalled Irimi's, which was something almost unheard of to the Anteiku staff. He sent a fist towards her face, which she dodged with ease but it seems as Kaneki was hoping for this, as he followed up with powerful roundhouse kick that sent Hinami flying across the room. Those who watched grew concern for the young girl but at the same time were amazed by Kaneki's hand-to-hand combat. It was obvious that he had some sort of martial arts training because his movements were swift and fluent, everytime Hinami would dodge he would have follow up attack and every time she would attack him he'd have a counter ready. He didn't waste time with fancy maneuvers and everything he did was controlled with a certain finesse that shed light to how skilled he truly was.

Hinami hit the ground with a loud crash and a large dust cloud rose from where she landed. Suddenly she leapt from the cloud of dust, sending her rinkaku at Kaneki as he tried to close in. Kaneki easily dodged each attack as she flew overhead, if he attacked her from behind her koukaku would shield her giving her time to attack with her rinkaku, so he waited until her feet touched the ground. Once that happened, Kaneki sent his rinkaku towards her which she easily evaded, despite her koukaku she was surprisingly nimble and agile. She sent her own rinkaku at Kaneki's in his blind spot but he must have been expecting this because he knocked it aside with his own and turned to face her.

Hinami rushed Kaneki, using her koukaku much like a battering ram slamming into him and pinning him to a pillar, the kagune piercing his stomach made his cough up blood. She then primed her rinkaku and aimed for his limbs. Touka began to worry for Kaneki as Hinami sent her rinkaku forward. Dust rose from the pillar and both combatants became lost in the cloud. Suddenly Kaneki jumped out of the dust cloud, the large hole in his gut healed almost instantly much to everyone's surprise. As the dust cleared, eyes landed on Hinami huffing, she was on her knees while using her hands to stay up. Her dual kagune faded in a red mist as she almost collapsed but before her head could hit the hard floor, Kaneki scooped her up and held the girl in his arms.

"Did I do good, Onii-chan?" Hinami asked weakly, which earned an encouraging smile from Kaneki who nodded.

"You did great Hinami, you're progressing much faster than I thought you would. Let's go take a nap, huh?" she nuzzled her nose into Kaneki's arms as he carried her across the room. Her heavy breath was sign that she had fallen asleep. He looked towards Touka, who looked slightly upset. "She did good, she'll be able to hold her own if I have to go back to the twenty-fourth ward." unfortunately for Kaneki this only served to make Touka scowl even harder. "What?" he snapped at her.

"I know why you're doing this," Touka turned away from him. "You can't just leave your sister to go fight a war, dumbass." she huffed then began to walk up the stairs after everyone else. Kaneki glared at the back of the girl's head before he too headed up the stairs.

Once he arrived on the ground floor of Anteiku, Kaneki then proceeded further to the top floor as the room he shared with Hinami. The young girl still sleeping soundly in his arms. He lightly kicked the door open and entered the dark room. Not wanting to turn on the lights and wake her, he simply walked across the room and set her down in the smaller bed without assistance of the room's lights. Once he had tucked her in, Kaneki stood up and smiled at her, hopefully he'd be able to send her to school soon and that way she could have a real education and the possibility at having a normal life, something she definitely deserved. He sighed heavily and then left the room, closing the door behind him. He needed to wash up then get dressed for work.

* * *

Takehiko opened the door for Rize and then entered the grand coffee shop, Anteiku. Instantly he picked up on the strong scent of coffee and masked under that, the smell of ghouls lingered throughout the entire shop. So the golden eyed ghoul looked around and noticed how tense all the ghouls in the shop had become at Rize's entrance and he smirked. She'd obviously been busy here in the twentieth, no doubt she was the reason 'doves' were here. He followed her to a seat, which was most likely where she always sat when she came here.

A rather tall, attractive waitress with long, straight white hair approached them. Her skin was as pale as a ghost but her eyes were the roundest, clearest, blue/gray eyes Takehiko had ever seen. A scowl was marring her beautiful features as she came to their table. Obviously she didn't like Rize too much and Takehiko was most likely going to get the same treatment due to his association with the glutton.

"Hello, thanks for coming to Anteiku. What can I get for you two?" she asked, faking a smile. "Rize will you have the usual?"

Rize flashed a fake smile right back at the waitress, "Yes, I would Meiro."

The waitress, Meiro nodded and jotted it down on her notepad then looked up at Takehiko. "And for you, sir?"

Takehiko raised his eyebrow at her question. How was he supposed to know what to get? He'd never been to a coffee shop in his life. He didn't even know what the stuff tasted like! Luckily for Takehiko, Rize chimed in, saying he'd have the same as her. Meiro left to go make their coffee which left Takehiko and Rize alone to talk.

The purple haired beauty turned to face him, "So, why are you here? It's a little too peaceful for you here, don't you think?"

Takehiko nodded, "I heard 'doves' have moved into the ward and I wanted to know why. Plus I heard rumors of a certain Binge Eater in the ward too." he sent a wink her way and a faint blush burned her cheeks. "Besides, I think it'd be fun to start up some trouble here, my employer doesn't really mind what I do as long as I take care of…" he trailed off as an alluring scent wafted his way. His eyes widened for a split second before they narrowed to match his mischievous, almost scheming smirk. "Mukade."

* * *

Kaneki heard it, someone had said that name. His name. A name feared and respected in the ghoul underground. Someone had used his name, his title. Someone in Anteiku called out, Mukade. His gray eyes scanned the large coffee shop and they instantly fell upon the back of a customer's head. Raven black hair and olive toned skin, Kaneki was sure it had to be _that_ ghoul.

The monochromatic haired man tapped the closest co worker to him. "Hey, do you know who that is?" he discreetly motioned in the direction of the customer he spotted moments ago.

The coworker, which just so happened to be Meiro, shook her head. "Never seen him in here before today. And worst yet, he's here with Rize. That binge eating bitch is a nausnice here, hopefully he's not a troublemaker like her." she whispered to Kaneki.

He swallowed hard, "What'd he look like?" Kaneki asked, he was growing more and more certain that this man was _that_ ghoul.

Meiro shrugged, "Well he's got really tan skin and his hair is combed all fancy like. I think he had golden eyes… oh! And he has gauges in his ears." she explained then took the two coffees she was working on and walked back over to where the customer was. Moments later she returned with a panicked look on her face. "He… he wants to talk to Mukade. That's you right?" Kaneki nodded, "I'll go get the manager, try not to start any problems." Meiro quickly hurried up the stairs as Kaneki apprehensively made his way towards the customer, which he was no sure was _that_ ghoul, it had to be him.

Kaneki arrived at the table to see a beautiful, purple haired woman with eyes to match. She was wearing a nice dress and had red framed glasses resting on her nose. The man however was exactly as Meiro described him: an olive skin tone with a slightly muscular build, piercing golden eyes and short raven black hair which was meticulously combed to the side pierced ears with 00g sized gauges in them. Only one thought ran through Kaneki's mind at that time. " _This guy is…"_

"Hey, Mukade."

" _Kenshi."_

* * *

 **Alright, so I know this one is way shorter than the other chapters but I felt like ending it there 'cause I have a sick obsession with cliffhangers and putting y'all on edge so much that y'all with hate me. I did wanna explore Hinami's training though, for storyline purposes really. Hinami is in my list of top ten favorite TG characters and she's important in this fanfic. Anyway without further ado, let's get on with the shoutouts. Shall we?**

 **OC Shoutouts!**

 **Meiro was in only OC in this chapter not created by me, she was made by hawaiian-rainbow.**

 **Review Shoutouts!**

 **WickedDemon69, The Cannibal's next chapter is finally being written but only like a 700 so words. I hit a wall on that on for now.**

 **halfeyedknight1, well you're not in this fanfic so TouKen with reign victorious! Mwa hahaha!**

 **daliapv. perez, thanks for reading! I think I understand what that review said lol.**

 **hawaiian-rainbow, yes, Amon is here. And no, I'm actually gonna be nice to Amon unlike somebody *cough*cough*Ishida!*cough*cough***

 **Sagrn, I believe I sent you a PM concerning your questions.**

 **hoobab, my computer is finally working! And actually Hajime was inspired by my brother. Not so much appearance wise but his physical build (except my brother is taller) and personality wise too. I did send you a PM about your question, right?**

 **PiroWolfxL, I'm not so much a TouKen fan as you'd think. I ship Kaneki with Rize, Touka, Eto, Hide, and (while he's Haise) Tooru and sometimes Akira. The only reason I chose TouKen for this fanfic is because it makes sense due to the storyline. Sorry to disappoint you.**


	7. Reunion Part II

**Disclaimer: Not sure why I have to write this, I think it's obvious I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

* * *

 **Reunion Part Two**

Kaneki glared at the smirking ghoul in front of him, a small portion of his mind was contemplating how Kenshi knew he was here but the rest of him was silently fuming that the borderline psychopath showed up _here_ , a place where Kaneki couldn't fight him. Even worse, Kenshi might figure out Hinami was here, which definitely wouldn't be good, though Kaneki doubted the golden eyed ghoul even cared the Josuke were after the young girl. Gritting his teeth, Kaneki clenched his fists, desperately trying not to punch the olive skinned man in front of him.

"What's the matter Mukade?" taunted Kenshi, "Are you going to hit a customer? That'll definitely be bad for business, wouldn't it?"

"Kaneki," a calm voice called to him and he turned to see Albert standing a few feet away. The old, German ghoul approached the booth and placed his large hand on Kaneki's shoulder. It seemed to relax him, something that wasn't easily done. Albert then turned from Kaneki to the two ghouls who sat in the booth, sipping coffee. "I hope there isn't a problem." Albert asked, more than stated. "If you two are starting trouble with the employee's here, I'm going to have to kindly ask you to leave."

Albert's voice was so calm and controlled, a great deal of contrast in his tone once compared to Kaneki's thoughts only moments ago. The young ghoul immediately felt another wave of anger wash over at how easily the golden eyed ghoul sitting before got under his skin. It was like some inherent ability that he had which no others possessed, well besides Touka but that was most likely a different reason entirely.

"Relax old man," Kenshi chuckled slightly. "Only teasing. Besides he's the one that seems to be having problems." at this statement Albert cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.

"If I am to understand the situation correctly you called him over here yourself, did you not?" Albert's words received an irritated suck of teeth from Kenshi, who turned his head away but still glared at Albert from the corner of his eye. "That means, by default, you are the one that is, and I quote, "having problems". So you can either leave my employee's to their jobs or," Albert lowered his voice to an ominous whisper and stared at Kenshi. "Leave my shop immediately." Albert's tone of voice was one Kaneki hadn't heard from the elderly ghoul, sure Albert was old and that meant he had experience and was no doubt a powerful ghoul, but actually picturing the kind man that way was something totally different.

Though, Kenshi didn't seem too fazed by it, which Kaneki suspected. The raven haired ghoul stayed silent a moment and Kaneki wasn't sure if he was thinking of what to say or if he was simply done talking. It would make sense to be the latter, as Kaneki remembered that the SS-rated Kenshi wasn't one to think before he acted. Kaneki's opinion proved correct as the ghoul began to sip slowly on his coffee. He was no longer glaring at Albert but instead looking at the purple haired young woman he was with instead. Kaneki noticed a hint of sincerity in his rival's eyes and his expression morphed into that of a confused one.

Unfortunately, Kaneki wasn't given more time to ponder over what he had just seen as Albert wrapped his burly arm around the young man's shoulders and led him back to the counter so he could continue with his job. Outwardly he appeared grateful and thanked Albert for intervening but on the inside Kaneki was feeling several emotions right now. The most prominent was fear; Kaneki was afraid that Kenshi would go back to the Josuke and tell them where he is. That would undoubtedly lead to the end of the peace in the twentieth and the destruction of Anteiku or worse, the Josuke could find and take Hinami. And more than anything Kaneki didn't want that. The second most powerful emotion he felt right now anger, Kenshi easily got under his skin and made him act much too similar to the golden eyed ghoul which he despised so much. Most of his other emotions and thoughts were hard to discern due to them all be jumbled up in his mind but he knew he felt some form of confusion when he noticed the why the ghoul, Kenshi had looked at the beautiful violet haired woman opposite the table.

After shaking his head to clear out his thoughts, Kaneki decided he'd better get back to work and set out to collect, prepare, and deliver orders to the customers. All the time he carefully avoided the booth at which the olive skinned ghoul and his date were seated.

* * *

Takehiko sighed and set his coffee cup down, he had become lost in Rize deep purple eyes and smiled at her. She noticed and gave him a sweet albeit uncertain smile back as she wasn't entirely sure what prompted his behavior. After all, just moments ago he was ready to start a fight with one of the employee's here, so technically Takehiko couldn't blame her for being slightly apprehensive about his sudden display of adoration.

"I'm sorry," he apologized genuinely to her. "We're supposed to be catching up with one another and here I am trying to start problems with waiters. How brutish of me?" she chuckled a bit at his words and that made a smirk spread on his lips but not his more dark, mischievous smirk, no this one was soft and caring - a side of himself that Takehiko rarely ever showed. He decided it'd be best if he strum up some conversation, so he did. "How have you been, Rize?"

This time it was she who smirked, though it did hint at the darker side of her. With two fingers still hooked on the handle of her cup she began. "Well once you left, I realized how incredibly boring the eleventh ward really was and began traveling. I arrived here and thought I'd start up some fun," she lifted the cup to her lips and sipped the dark brown liquid slowly. Putting it down a moment later, "I honestly never expected to see you again," both of them frowned at those words but she continued. "So I simply began to do what I've always done…"

"Make blood spill and eat your fill." Takehiko chuckled darkly at his own rhyme and the glint in Rize's eyes grew darker as she nodded smiling.

"Though it sounds like you've been having much more fun than me," she started up, looking out the window and he simply let her talk, enjoying the sound of her angelic voice. "I heard about what happened in the thirteenth ward… what was it, a week ago?" she turned her attention to him but he left her question unanswered, believing it was probably a rhetorical question anyway. So she simply began to speak again, "So, _Kenshi_ how have things been with you?" the amount of emphasis she had put on using his moniker amused him to no end.

"Well, things with the Josuke have been getting interesting." he admitted, not caring that he was openly discussing the ghoul underground with so many ears that could listen in. "They took over the sixth ward, which was Tsumemasa territory, because of that the bastards sided with the Sasaki and now there's probably a war on the horizon." he spoken with little concern in his voice for the things to come, which only went to prove the fact that he really didn't care about it at all. "Heh, a clan war help the fact that the number of 'doves' are increasing pretty much everywhere. I heard that they even came here."

Rize nodded to his last sentence and Takehiko could tell that she wasn't too keen on the prospect of a war looming over their heads. "Yes, and while I'm sure that has something to do with me, there's been whispers of Mukade here in the ward." Takehiko almost burst out laugh but instead he nodded and gave her a look that could mean nothing more than 'duh!' Rize lifted her cup and took another sip, swallowing the warm liquid down her dainty throat before she spoke again. "I suppose that was him?" Takehiko simply nodded, knowing that she was referring to the waiter from before. "I know he hasn't done anything, he works here at Anteiku and they don't let their employee's attract unwanted attention from the 'doves', so perhaps rumors have just been spreading about him." the way she spoke was more of a question than an actual statement.

"Most likely, that old geezer didn't seem too keen on me starting trouble with that white haired bastard."

"Speaking of him," Rize started, catching Takehiko's attention. "He smells certainly different don't you think? Like a ghoul but… a dash of human in there. He certainly smells good." her words nearly made him scoff, she sounded ridiculous but then again…

"Well, if you like the smell of that bastard you should try the taste." the golden eyed ghoul muttered, a hint of anger lace in his voice. Rize obviously didn't pick up on this because she turned to search the café for waiter. Takehiko growled under his breath at this, he should have just kept his mouth shut about what that one eyed freak tasted like. He almost wanted to throw up in order to forget how good the chucks of flesh he had torn from that guy were. Then an idea popped into mind.

"Rize," she instantly turned her attention towards him but before she could ask what he leaned over the table and gently pressed his lips to her's.

Takehiko could tell that she was shocked at first but she immediately relaxed into the kiss and when he prodded her lips with his tongue she opened them and let him enter. His tongue snaked inside and began to 'explore' her mouth. He could practically taste the flesh and blood of humans inside and the inside of her mouth tasted so much better than whatever stupid, overpriced drink Rize had bought for him did. After only a moment he pulled away and leaned back in his chair with a smirk on his lips.

"That was umm…" Rize trailed off, thinking for a word to use.

Takehiko beat her to it by interjecting his own thoughts, "Your mouth tastes good, Rize. Like the sweet blood of a fresh kill, right after seeing the lights go out in their eyes." probably not the best compliment he could have given her but it was the truth and a mischievous smirk spread across her lips, one that almost made him bite his lip.

Takehiko was honestly hoping that they could go crash a party sometime tonight. It'd be fun to wreck havoc in the most peaceful of wards and he knew Rize would love to join him so he suggested it. She accepted his suggestion right after he had gotten the words out of his mouth and he looked at her with a dark glint in his eyes, ' _Tonight is gonna be fun.'_

* * *

Kaneki knew something bad was going to happen now that _he'd_ shown up in the twentieth ward. So once he got off work, the young man went to his room and discussed everything with Hinami. She was in grave danger if the Josuke found out she was here and they'd no doubt come after her. But what Kaneki didn't know is if Kenshi would actually even bother with it, Kaneki had noticed that his raven haired rival didn't care too much when it came to the Josuke's agenda and often went off on his own leaving nothing but death and destruction in his wake. Gritting his teeth Kaneki then came to a decision, he'd hunt the ghoul down and drive him out of the twentieth ward.

It came as no surprise when Hinami didn't support this decision, in fact he could honestly say he expected it. But what else could he do? Kenshi, or whatever his real name was, could easily turn the twentieth ward into a slaughterhouse, he knew first hand how powerful he was. Of course, Kaneki was no pushover himself but he wasn't sure of what the outcome would be if he were to fight the eccentric ghoul here in the twentieth. But that didn't change what had to be done, even if it meant losing his life, Kaneki needed to keep Hinami safe, he promised he would keep her safe and he wouldn't dare break that promise.

' _And what if I die? Who will protect her then? I would have broken my promise…'_ Kaneki's question wasn't answered with a scenario of if he died nor was it answered by a who. It wasn't even his own thoughts that answered, it was Hinami, who seemed to have read his mind.

"Don't die." simple words but they both knew it was easier said than done. They both grew up in the twenty-fourth ward and seen the true horrors of the place. But still, her simple request gave his confidence and a soft smile touched his lips.

"Touka is going to be furious about this," suddenly a voice called out from outside the room.

"I'm going to be furious about what?" the adolescent girl had walked into the room through the open doorway and looked at Kaneki with a quizzical expression that displayed her curiosity at why he had been speaking of her.

Cursing to himself Kaneki shook his head, "Nothing, I'm just going out tonight and was wondering if you could look after Hinami until I get back. She won't be any trouble," he quickly turned to Hinami saying: "Promise Touka you won't be any trouble?"

Hinami nodded and Touka sighed, "Yeah, I guess I can hang out with her. We live in the same building anyway. But Albert is staying behind to help me with some literature homework so it'll be pretty boring."

Kaneki nodded and Hinami seemed excited at spending time with either Touka, Albert or both, Kaneki didn't know and it wasn't the first thing on his mind. He got up, tucking his mask into his jacket pocket so that Touka wouldn't notice he was taking it with him. Still nervous that she had some reason to suspect something he put on a cheerful face and walked up giving her a quick hug, which obviously caught her off guard as she did not wrap her arms around him. For that he was grateful but he did whisper a very faint, "thank you" in her ear before releasing almost as soon as he embraced her. The he left, not looking back lest it be awkward.

* * *

Walking down the streets, Kaneki couldn't help but contemplate the reason he hugged Touka. He had never displayed that kind of physical affection before, or even physical contact. The only person he had ever hugged had been his mother, which was funny, in a way Touka reminded him of her and yet nothing like her all at once.

His mother had been hardworking and amazingly caring to those around her. Which was rather odd as she was trapped within the twenty-fourth ward with no one but ghouls, the very kind that feasted on humans like her. And yet she still possessed that warm kindness to each and every one of them and it seems to be that they appreciated that and thus she wasn't eaten and allowed to live.

It was obvious to Kaneki that Touka was also kind, be it in her own way. The teenage she-ghoul did have an awful temper and tended to lash out and spit venomous words but Kaneki could tell that was a facade, a mask to hide her longing for a small shred of normalcy. He scoffed that the thought of how foolish she was, ghouls can't have a normal life, especially not him, not for what he was. His vague memories of his mother reminded him that she too wanted a normal life, that thought also came with a pang of hurt in his chest. Although it wasn't necessarily his fault, Kaneki blamed himself for his mother's misfortune. If he had not been born she wouldn't have been forced to live her life with man eating ghouls.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts then grumbled to himself about how he needed to remain focused and get Kenshi out of the twentieth ward but his mind kept drifting back to the young waitress with the blue locks. For whatever reason he had hugged her, actually touched her and buried her face into his chest. Cursing himself for his act of affection that he wasn't even sure was caused by. He was glad she had not hugged him back or else he might still be there holding her. To him that sounded too ridiculous, Touka would most likely bite his head off is he tried a stunt like that again. And even though he couldn't stop thinking about what he did, not real reason for why he did presented itself.

Grumbling to himself more, Kaneki entered a dark alley and pulled out his mask. He allowed the cold leather to slide over his face, the eyepatch falling into place over his right eye. His only visible eye flared into the black and red kakugan of a ghoul and he climbed to the rooftop of a nearby building, hoping he'd be able to find Kenshi before the ghoul did anything to bring any more unwanted attention to this most docile ward in this vast, almost endless city of Tokyo.

* * *

 **Well, this one was also rather short. I'm procrastinating at writing a fight scene because I don't how I want it to go down. I just hope this chapter was okay.**

 **OC Shoutouts!**

 **Albert was created by Sagrn. If you want to read Albert's origin story go check out Sagrn's fanfic Nashron and the Investigator!**

 **Review Shoutouts!**

 **daliapv. perez, so I attempted to translate your review and it made no sense…**

 **hawaiian-rainbow, how are you shipping Rizehiko now?!**

 **Eliphas-Chaos, I'm glad you think so.**

 **Sagrn: Albert did well, no? And I believe I dealt with all your questions and concerns.**

 **codename00guest, haha yeah I was too lazy to write about having to fend off multiple people at once. And may their departure will, we shall see.**

 **hoobab, yes, Hinami is a BAMF now. And the cliffhangers will never die! Long live cliffhangers~~~~!**


	8. Reunion Part III

**Disclaimer: Not sure why I have to write this, I think it's obvious I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.**

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 **Reunion Part Three**

A high pitched scream filled the night air and reached Kaneki's ears. The screaming was cut off in a matter of seconds, dying out to a scarce whisper. His eyes became fixated on the direction in which the scream had originated and he began to speed across the rooftops, leaping from building to building. He knew he was too late, Kenshi had most likely begun his killing spree with whoever that woman was from earlier in Anteiku. He was growing closer, the delicious smell of blood stung his nose with it's metallic scent as few most bounds and he reached the edge of the roof. Without looking down, Kaneki lept over the edge and landed with a quiet _**thud**_ which attracted the attention of those doing the killing.

A familiar voice called out to him in a slightly ominous tone, " _Mukade_!"

Kaneki looked up to see the helmet clad ghoul, Kenshi. The glowing red eyes of the helmet met Mukade's sole visible kakugan. Looking past Kenshi, Mukade saw the purple haired woman from earlier tearing into one of the two dead bodies that lay, soaked in blood on the ground. Turning back to Kenshi, Mukade's visible eye narrowed into an angry glare at the emotionless visor. But the slightly crazed laugh of the one wearing the helmet betrayed the faceless visor.

"So, tell me," Kenshi started. "What is a member of the Sasaki Clan's vanguard doing working at a coffee shop in the nice, quiet twentieth-ward, hmm?"

Mukade clenched his fists, "Probably the exact opposite of what you're doing here Kenshi." spat Mukade, "All you do is start unnecessary problems for everyone, including your own employers. So why don't you just go back to the twenty-fourth ward, where you belong."

Kenshi dramatically brought a hand to his chest and faked a gasp, "Why, I'm hurt Mukade. I thought you enjoyed our fights!" with that, Kenshi launched himself forward, pulling out the stolen quinque he named, Dai Sanji.

Dodging to the left, Mukade brought out four kagune in order to combat his enemy. Twisting around, Mukade smacked Kenshi away with his kagune and quickly rushed after him. Before Kenshi could reconnect with the ground, Mukade was upon him, sending two of the four tentacles towards his enemy like spears. The helmet clad ghoul, parried the first with his quinque, using the momentum of the clash to push him away from the second kagune and back down.

With his feet once again touching the ground, Kenshi bolted towards Mukade in an attempt to get close enough for his nodachi. But his attempt was foiled by the other two of Mukade's kagune directed at him. Kenshi deflected the first and blocked the second, then used his sword as a lever and launched himself over Mukade's kagune and into the ghoul himself.

The two rolled on the ground, wrestling to gain the upperhand, punches were exchanged until Mukade was able to pin down Kenshi using his kagune. The eyepatch wearing ghoul ripped the helmet from Kenshi's head, revealing the tan olive skin and raven black hair of the man he met earlier at Anteiku but his eyes where the jet black and burning red kakugan that all ghouls possessed. Mukade the proceeded so send his knuckles into Kenshi's face several times. But before he could do much damage, something wrapped around his abdomen and tossed him to the side.

Mukade crashed into a dumpster, crushing it under the power at which he had been thrown away. Struggling to get up, he was then impaled and ripped from the wreckage of the dumpster and smashed against the wall. From there he was able to see what was sticking through him was the woman's kagune. Coughing up blood, Mukade used his own to rip himself free from his captor.

"Rize no!" Kenshi called out as he stood up, "Go finish your food, this bastard is mine!" he picked up his quinque off the ground and pointed at Mukade. "Let's go you one-eyed freak!"

The two charged each other, Mukade attacking with all four of his kagune tentacles while Kenshi easily deflected each of them. Mukade stabbed one of his kagune into the ground and flipped over Kenshi, then pierced his kagune into him. Kenshi spun around, despite the kagune through his back and severed the limb with his quinque, the wound healed quickly, not even slowing him down.

"Do you really think that I'm here for you?" Kenshi asked as he deflected one of Mukade's attacks. "My life doesn't center around you, Mukade." he lunged forward in an attempt to skewer his opponent.

Mukade weaved to the right, barely avoiding the tip of the long blade. The eyepatched ghoul then used his kagune like a slingshot, to propel him forward at a speed which Kenshi couldn't dodge or block. Mukade proceeded to pierce his kagune into Kenshi. But Kenshi was just as fast and thrust his quinque forward, into Mukade's sternum. The two ghouls, now stapled together by each other didn't move, they stood absolutely still as their blood gushed out of the wounds and mixed together on the cold asphalt.

Mukade coughed out blood, "Why are you here then? Why do you always have to cause so many problems?"

Kenshi chuckled and spat up blood as well, "Isn't it obvious?" he motioned around at the destruction their fight had caused. "It's fun!"

Angered by the response he received, Mukade wrenched himself free from Kenshi's quinque, letting the gut hook shred organs that would heal quickly. "Leave this ward and go have fun somewhere else!" with that, Mukade lifted Kenshi into the air with his kagune and tossed him across the alley and into a wall. "The twentieth ward is no place for trouble makers like you!"

Kenshi laid in a crumpled heap but his whole body shook as his laughter began to raise, "The twentieth ward will soon be no different than the rest of the wards once war breaks out!" he rose to his feet. "What then, Mukade? There will be no semblance of peace or balance! The Sasaki and the Josuke will turn Tokyo into a war zone! No human or ghoul will be safe. I'm simply trying to enjoy my life up until war begins. Then I'll have plenty of excitement."

"You're a mutt." Mukade spat, "You have no compassion and no concern for anyone but yourself. All you do is kill and eat without remorse. You care nothing for anyone in this world."

Kenshi laughed at Mukade's words once again, "That may be true but you're the same. Aren't you Mukade? Ha ha ha ha!" Kenshi walked over to his helmet and snatched it off the ground, "C'mon Rize, let's get outta here."

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As the two ghouls left, Kaneki was left pondering Kenshi's words, " _That may be true but you're the same."_ Kaneki clenched his fists, in his eyes he was nothing like Kenshi but for some reason, all of a sudden he didn't feel much different from the eccentric ghoul. Now angrier than before, Kaneki scaled up to the rooftops and headed back to Anteiku with a scowl on his face.

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 **So, who all wants to ring my neck for such a long wait? Hahaha I'm sorry y'all, school has been hard on me. And I know this chapter wasn't all that good but honestly it's been awhile since I've written anything and I just wanted to get something done. Once again, I'm sorry for the wait.**

 **OC Shoutouts!**

 **None this chapter. Kenshi/Takehiko is my own OC and Rize and Kaneki are canon characters.**

 **Review Shoutouts!**

 **I'm sorry I'm not really in the mood to address all of y'all, just thanks for reviewing! :)**


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